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Funerary Urn from a Zapotecan Tomb 
The cylindrical urn is concealed behind the human figure. The dress of the 
human figure consists of a cape, apron and a widespreading headdress. 
Over the face is worn a mask. Height, 15/^ inches. 



AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 

if 

Ancient Civilizations 

OF 

Mexico and Central America 




By HERBERT Jj SPINDEN 

FORMERLY ASSISTANT CURATOR, DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY 



HANDBOOK SERIES No. 3 

SECOND AND REVISED EDITION 



NEW YORK 
1922 



A 







I « AMEmCAN-MUSEOM- PRESS «~| 




PREFACE 

THIS little book is intended as a general commen- 
tary and explanation of the more important 
phases of the ancient life and arts of the Indians 
of Mexico and Central America, and especially of their 
history. The substance of it is drawn from many 
sources, for the anthropologist must mould together and 
harmonize the gross results of several sciences. Archae- 
ology, ethnology, somatology, and linguistics all make 
their special contributions and we are only on the 
threshold of our subject. In the Mexican and Central 
American field we find the accumulated writings that 
result from four hundred years of European contact with 
the Indians and in addition a mass of native documents 
and monumental inscriptions expressed in several hiero- 
glyphic systems. 

The general method of this book will be to take up in 
order the recognized ''horizons" of pre-Columbian 
history, beginning with the earliest of which we have 
knowledge. In relation to each horizon we will examine 
the records and discuss the principal developments in 
arts, beliefs, and social structures. The introductory 
chapter is designed to put before the reader such facts 
as may be necessary for a ready understanding of the 
discussions and explanations that will follow. 

The Mexican Hall of the American Museum of 
Natural History furnishes illustrations of most of the 
facts given herewith. This Hall contains both originals 
and casts brought together by various expeditions of 
the Museum and of other scientific institutions. The 
principal patrons of science whose names should be 
mentioned in connection with the upbuilding of these 
collections are: Willard Brown, Austin Corbin, R. P. 
Doremus, Anson W. Hard, Archer M. Huntington, 



6 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

Morris K. Jesup, James H. Jones, Minor C. Keith, 
the Duke de Loubat, William Mack, Henry Mar- 
quand. Dr. William Pepper, A. D. Straus, I. McI. 
Strong, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Henry Villard, William 
C. Whitney. But thanks are also due to innumerable 
persons who have contributed single specimens and 
small collections as well as those who have placed in- 
formation at the disposal of the scientific staff. The 
principal collectors have been: George Byron Gordon, 
Ales Hrdlicka, Carl Lumholtz, Francis C. Nicholas, 
Marshall H. Saville, Eduard Seler, Herbert J. Spinden, 
and John L. Stephens. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface 5 

Introduction 13 

Geography and Natural Environment. History of European Contact. 
Languages. Ethnology. Physical Types. 

CHAPTER I 
The Archaic Horizon 43 

Stratification of Remains. The Cemetery under the Lava. Invention 
of Agriculture. Archaic Figurines. Ancient Customs. Archaic Pot- 
tery. Stone Sculptures of the .Archaic Period. Extensions of the 
Archaic Horizon. Local Developments of Archaic Art. Summary. 

CHAPTER 11 

The Mayan Civilization 67 

Architecture. Massive Sculptural Art. Minor Arts. The Serpent in 
Mayan Art. The Human Figure. Design, Composition and Per- 
spective. The Mayan Pantheon. The Mayan Time Counts. Ele- 
ments of the Day Count. The Conventional Year. The Calendar 
Round. Mayan Numbers. The True Year. The Long Count. The 
Lunar Calendar. The Venus Calendar. Hieroglyphs. Codices. Bases 
of Mayan Chronology. Historical Development of Art. Dated Monu- 
ments. Books of Chilam Balam. Correlation with Christian Chron- 
ology. Summary of Mayan History. 

CHAPTER III 
The Middle Civilizations . 139 

Zapotecan Culture. Mitla. Totonacan Culture. The Toltecs. Xochi- 
calco. San Juan Teotihuacan. Tula. Cholula. The Frontier Cities of the 
Northwest. Santa Lucia Cozumalhualpa. The Chorotegan Culture. 
Isthmian Gold Work. 

CHAPTER IV 

The Aztecs 181 

Mayas and Aztecs compared to Greeks and Romans. The Chichimecas. 
Aztecan History. Social Organization. The Tecpan or Temple Enclo- 
sure. The Calendar Stone. Stone of Tizoc. Coatlicue. Mexican 
Writing. Aztecan Religion. Conceptions of the Universe. Cere- 
monies. , Poetry and Music. Minor Aztecan Arts. The Tarascans. 
Southern Mexico. Aztecan Influence in Central America. 

A Cross-Section of New World History 226 

Bibliography 229 

Index 233 



8 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page. 
Funerary Urn from a Zapotecan Tomb Frontispiece 

Map of Mexico and Central America showing the Principal 
ArchiEological Sites with a Detail Insert of the Valley of 
Mexico Facing 43 

Diagram of American Chronology Facing 228 

PLATES. 
I a, Village Scene in Arid Mexico; b, In the Humid Low- 
lands 15 

II. a, Site of Pueblo Viejo, the First Capital of Guatemala; 
b, A Spanish Church at the Village of Camotan on 
the Road to Copan 23 

III. a, View of the Island of Flores in Lake Peten; b. The 

Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza 28 

IV. a, A Guatemalan huipili; h, Pouches of the Valiente 

Indians 38 

V. a, Zapotecan Girl from the State of Oaxaca ; b, Lacandone 

Man from Southern Mexico 40 

VI. a, Stone Sculptures of the Archaic Period; b, Archaic 

Site under Lava Flow near Mexico City ... 46 
VII. a, Large Archaic Figures found in Graves and offering 
Evidence of Ancient Customs and Arts; b, Archaic 
Figures which show a Quality of Caricature or pos- 
sibly Portraiture 50 

VIII Costa Rican Figures of Archaic Type contrasted with 

those of a Later Time 56 

IX. Widely Distributed Female Figurines 58 

X. Distribution of Archaic Culture "61 

XI. Distribution of Agriculture in the New World ... 62 
XII. A General View of the Ceremonial Center of Copan . . 66 

XIII . a, View of the Plaza at Copan from the Northwestern Cor- 

ner ; b, View Across the Artificial Acropolis at Copan 68 

XIV. A Temple at Hochob showing Elaborate Facade Decora- 

tions in Stucco 72 

XV. A Sealed Portal Vault in the House of the Governor at 

LTxmal 73 

XVI. a, Model of the Temple of the Cross designed to show the 
Construction; b, Detail of Frieze on the Temple of 
the Cross 75 



MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE. 

XVII. a, Realistic Designs on Vases from Chama, Guate- 
mala; b, The Quetzal as represented on a Painted 

Cylindrical Vase from Copan 79 

XVIII. Stela 13, Piedras Negras 90 

XIX. a, Top of Stela 1 at Yaxchilan; b, Analogous Detail 

of Stela 4, Yaxchilan 95 

XX. Scheme of the Mayan Calendar as presented in 

the Codex Tro-Cortesianus 102 

XXI. Typical Mayan Inscription 109 

XXII. Page 24 Dresden Codex 118 

XXIII. a, Detail of the Dresden Codex showing Tzolkin 

used in Divination; b, Analysis of the above 
Tzolkin, according to Forstemann .... 122 

XXIV. Development in Style of Carving at Copan . . 124 
XXV. General View of Monte Alban from the North . .138 

XXVI. Detail of Monte Alban showing Wall Foundations 

and Small Cell-like Rooms 140 

XXVII. Zapotecan Art: Incense Burners, Funerary Vases of 

Portrait Type, Cruciform Tomb with Geo- 
metric Decoration ....... 143 

XXVIII. a, Sculpture of Stone of the Early Zapotecan Period; 

b, Jade Tablets pierced for Suspension . . . 146 
XXIX. Laughing Head of the Totonacs 150 

XXX. a, An Elaborately Carved Stone Collar; b, A Pal- 
mate Stone from the State of Vera Cruz . . 152 
XXXI. The Temple at Xochicalco before Restoration . . 157 
XXXII. Two Views of the Principal Pyramid in the Citadel 

at Teotihuacan 160 

XXXIII. a, Partial View of the Great Pyramid at Cholula; b, 

A View at La Quemada 164 

XXXIV. Stone Slab from an Ancient Sepulcher in the State of 

Guerrero 170 

XXXV. a, Fine Carved Ceremonial Slab found at Mercedes, 
Costa Rica; 6, Stone Figure from Costa Rica; 

c, Ceremonial Slab decorated with Monkeys, 
Mercedes, Costa Rica 174 

XXXVI. a, The Gold Work of the Ancient Mexicans; 6, Orna- 
ment of Gold from Costa Rica 178 

XXXVII. A Page from the Tribute Roll of Moctezuma . .180 
XXXVIII. Page from the Codex Telleriano Remensis ... 182 



10 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

Page. 
XXXIX. Serpent Head at Bottom of Balustrade, Great Pyra- 
mid, Mexico City 186 

XL. Sahagim's Plan of the Tecpan in Mexico City 192 

XLI. The Calendar Stone of the Aztecs 194 

XLII. The Shield Stone at Cuernavaca 196 

XLIII. Sculpture representing Coatlicue, the Serpent- 
Skirted Goddess -200 

XLIV. Page from the Tonalamatl Section of the Codex 

Borbonicus 206 

XLV. a. Pictures of Tlaloc, the God of Rain, and of 
Ehecatl, the God of Winds, in the Codex Mag- 
liabecchiano; 6, Mexican Genealogical Table 

on Amatl Paper 208 

TEXT FIGURES. 

1. The Great Snowstorm of 1447 shown in the Pictographic 

Record of the Aztecs 13 

2. AMexicanPictureof a Volcanic Eruption 16 

3. Yucatan Deer caught in a Snare 20 

4. The Moan Bird, or Yucatan Owl, personified as a Demigod . 20 

5. Spanish Ship in the Aubin Codex 22 

6. Cortez arrives with Sword and Cross and Moctezuma brings 

him Gold 25 

7. Aztecan Canoe. Lienzo de Tlaxcala 26 

8. Design on Modern Huichol Ribbon 35 

9. Woven Pouch of the Huichol Indians 35 

10. Atzcapotzalco Destroyed 44 

11. Diagram of Culture Strata at Atzcapotzalco 45 

12. Teocentli or Mexican Fodder Grass 48 

13. Figurines from the Earliest Culture Horizon in Mexico 51 

14. Archaic Figurine from Salvador 52 

15. Types of Eyes of Archaic Figurines 53 

16. Textile Designs painted on Archaic Effigies 54 

17. Typical Tripod Vessels of the Archaic Period, from Morelos, 

Mexico 55 

18. Series showing the Modification of a Celt into a Stone Amulet 57 

19. Groundplans of Yaxchilan Temples 70 

20. Cross-section of Typical Mayan Temple in Northern Yucatan 74 

21. Mask Panel over Doorway at Xkichmook, Yucatan ... 78 

22. Design on Engraved Pot representing a Tiger seated in a 

Wreathe of Water Lilies. Northern Yucatan ... 81 



TEXT FIGUEES 11 

PAGE. 

23. Painted Design on Cylindrical Bowl showing Serpent issuing 

from a Shell. Salvador 81 

24. Mayan Basket represented in Stone Sculpture .... 82 

25. Typical Elaborated Serpents of the Mayas 83 

26. Conventional Serpent of the Mayas used for Decorative 

Purposes 84 

,27. Upper Part of Serpent Head EQade into a Fret Ornament . . 86 

28. Sculpture on Front of Lintel at Yaxchilan 88 

29. Types of Human Heads on the Lintels of Yaxchilan ... 88 

30. Sculpture on Upper Part of Stela 1 1 , Seibal 89 

3L The Ceremonial Bar 91 

32. The Manikin Scepter 92 

33. The Two-Headed Dragon 92 

34. Gods in the Dresden Codex 94 

35. The Twenty Day Signs 98 

36. The Nineteen Month Signs of the Mayan Year .... 100 

37. Bar and Dot Numerals of the Mayas 104 

38. Face Numerals found in Mayan Inscriptions 106 

39. The Normal Forms of the Period Glyphs 106 

40. Face Forms of Period Glyphs 106 

41 Representations of the Moon Ill 

42. The Last Glyph of the Supplementary Series Ill 

43. Hieroglyphs of the Four Directions 115 

44. Hieroglyphs containing the Phonetic Element kin . . . 115 

45. Mayan Ceremony as represented in the Dresden Codex . . 120 

46. The Front Head of the Two-Headed Dragon on Stelae at 

Piedras Negras showing the Increase in Flamboyant 

Treatment 126 

47. Grotesque Face on the Back of Stela B, Copan .... 128 

48. Jaguar in Dresden Codex with a Water Lily attached to 

Forehead 128 

49. Late Sculpture from Chichen Itza 129 

50. Comparison of Mayan and Zapotecan Serpent Heads . . . 141 

51 . Bar and Dot Numerals combined with Hieroglyphs on Zapote- 

can Monuments 142 

52. Detail of Wall Construction at Mitla 147 

53. Wall Paintings of Mitla 148 

54. The Eyes of Totonacan Figurines 149 

55. Jointed Doll of Clay from San Juan Teotihuacan .... 162 

56. Pottery Plates from Cholula with Decorations in Several 

Colors 163 



12 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

PAGE. 

57. Vessel with "CTovsortne" Decoration in Heavj' Pigments . . 167 

58. The Turtle Motive as developed in Negative Painting with 

Wax at Totoate, Jalisco 168 

59 Jaguar Head on Disk-Shaped Stone. Salvador .... 169 

60. Front View and Profile View Serpen' Heads in Chorotegan 

Art 172 

61. Jaguar Design associated with Figurines that still retain 

Archaic Characters. Costa Rica 173 

62. Jaguars from painted Nicoyan Vases 173 

63. Highly Conventionalized Jaguar Motive 175 

64. Simple Crocodile Figures in Red Lines on Dishes from 

Mercedes, Costa Rica 176 

65. Panels containing Crocodiles painted in White Lines on 

Large Tripod Bowls from Mercedes, Costa Rica . . . 176 

66. Simplified Crocodile Heads in the Yellow Line Ware of Mer- 

cedes, Costa Rica 176 

67. Conventional Crocodiles from Costa Rica and Panama . . 177 

68. Pictographic Record of the Conquest of the Springs of 

Chapultepec 185 

69. Details from the Stone of Tizoc 198 

70. Detail showing the Construction of the Face of Coatlicue . 201 

71. Hieroglyphs of Precious Materials 201 

72. Phonetic Elements derived from Pictures and used in Mexican 

Place Name Hieroglyphs 202 

73. Aztecan Place Names 202 

74. Aztecan Day Signs 203 

75. Variant Forms of Aztecan Day Signs 204 

76. Aztecan Numbers and Objects of Commerce 204 

77. Analysis of Mexican Record 207 

78. Chalchuihtlicue, Aztecan Goddess of Water 209 

79. A Mexican Orchestra 218 

80. Mexican Blanket with the Design representing Sand and 

Water 220 

81. The Year Symbol of Southern Mexico 222 

82. Year Bearers in the Codex Porfirio Diaz ascribed to the 

Cuicatecan Tribe 222 

83. A Page from the Codex Nuttall, recording the Conquest of a 

Town situated on an Island of the Sea 223 

84. The God Macuilxochitl, Five Flower, as shown in a Mexican 

Codex and in Pottery from Southern Mexico . . . 225 



INTRODUCTION 




Geography and Natural Environment. 

Unfortunately the terms ''Mexico and Central America " 
are not mutually exclusive. Central America is a natu- 
ral division comprised between the Isthmus of Tehuan- 
tepec and the Isthmus of Panama. Mexico is a political 
division that includes several 
states in Central America, 
namely, Chiapas, Tabasco, 
Campeche, Yucatan, and the 
territory of Quintana Roo. 
The ancient high cultures of 
Mexico hardly extended as far 
north as the Tropic of Can- 
cer and the region beyond 
this is of slight interest to 
us. Positions south of Mexico 
will often be referred to the 
areas of the modern political 
units although these have no 
immediate relation to pre- 
Spanish conditions. These 

political units are : Guatemala, British Honduras, Hon- 
duras, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. 

Although lying within the tropics, the territory ex- 
tending from the Isthmus of Panama to Central Mexico 
exhibits great extremes of climate and topography and 
hence of plant and animal life. The year is everywhere 
divided into a wet and a dry season but the relative 
duration of each depends upon land form and altitude. 
The coast of the Pacific is considerably drier than that 
of the Atlantic. Three climatic zones are generally 
recognized, namely, the Tierra Caliente (Hot Land), 
Tierra Templada (Temperate Land), and Tierra Fria 



Fig. 1. The Great Snow- 
storm of 1447 shown in the 
Pictographic Record of the 
Aztecs called Codex Telleri- 
ano Remensis. 



14 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

(Cold Land), and in some regions each of these has an 
arid and a humid strip. The change from luxuriant 
forests to open thorny deserts is often very sudden. 
On the high plateau or Tierra Fria the natural warmth 
of the latitude is largely overcome by the altitude. In 
the Valley of Mexico snow falls only at rare intervals, 
yet chilling winds are common in the winter. Much 
of the plateau from Mexico south into Guatemala is 
open farming land well suited to the raising of maize 
and wheat where water is sufficient. The shoulders of 
the mountains bear forests of pine and oak while the 
highest peaks are crowned with perpetual snow. 

A description of the mountains, rivers, and lakes will 
help towards an understanding of the problems that 
are before us. The broad plateau, crossed by irregular 
ranges of mountains, that occupies the states of New 
Mexico and Arizona continues far south into Mexico. 
On the western rim the Sierra Madre lifts a great pine- 
covered barrier, beyond which the land drops off 
quickly into the hot fringe of coastal plain bordering 
the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California. The 
highest mountains of the western Sierra Madre are El 
Nevado and Colima, the first a snowy peak 14,370 feet 
high and the second an active volcano 12,278 feet high. 
On the eastern rim of the central plateau the second 
Sierra Madre is less continuous but it culminates in the 
loftiest peak of all Mexico — the wonderful cone of 
Orizaba. This mountain rises from the tropical jungles 
well into the region of perpetual snow and attains an 
elevation of 18,314 feet above the sea. Its name in 
Aztecan is Citlaltepetl, which means Star Mountain. 
Two other famous peaks of Mexico are Popocatepetl 
and Iztacchihuitl, both names being pure Aztecan. 
The first means Smoking Mountain and the second 
White Woman. These volcanic crests rise into the 





Plate I. (a) Village Scene in Arid Mexico. Cactus and other 
thorny shrubs are ever present. The houses of the natives are of 
adobe with thatched roofs, (b) In the Humid Lowlands. The view 
shows part of the plaza at Quirigua with one of the monuments 
almost concealed in vegetation of a few months' growth. 

15 



16 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



snowy zone from the table-land which is itself about 
8,000 feet above the sea. 

In southern Mexico the plateau area enclosed between 
the principal sierras narrows perceptibly, because the 
shore line of the Pacific and the mountain range that 
parallels it swing more and more 
towards the east. At the Isthmus 
of Tehuantepec a low valley sepa- 
rates the highland area of ^Mexico 
from that of Central America. 
This second table-land is not so 
wide as the one we have just con- 
sidered and is more deeply dis- 
sected by rivers. The mountains 
of Guatemala rise to a consider- 
able altitude, the highest being 
Tacana with 13,976 feet eleva- 
tion. Active volcanoes are num- 
erous and earthquakes frequent 
and often disastrous. The ^^olcan 
de Agua and the Volcan de Fuego 
(Volcano of Water and Volcano 
of Fire) look down upon Cuidad 
Vieja and Antigua Guatemala, 
the old Spanish capitals which each in turn destroyed. 
The Cordillera still presents its most abrupt front to 
the Pacific and on the eastern side, in Guatemala 
and Honduras, there are high forest-bearing ridges 
between the river systems. The Cockscomb jVIoun- 
tains in British Honduras are a low outlying group. 
In southern Nicaragua the main chain is broken by a 
low broad valley that extends from ocean to ocean. 
In Costa Rica and Panama a single range stretches mid- 
way along the narrow strip of land, with peaks that rise 
above 11,000 feet. 




Fig. 2. The Smoke 
reaches the Stars, a 
Mexican Picture of a 
Volcanic Eruption in 
the Codex Telleriano- 
Remensis. 



INTRODUCTION 17 

The lowland strip on the Pacific side of our area is a 
narrow fringe. Like the central plateau it is for the 
most part arid, but irrigation makes it productive. The 
lowlands of the Atlantic side are generally wet and 
heavily forested. The greatest land mass of uniformly 
low elevation is the Peninsula of Yucatan. In eastern 
Honduras and Nicaragua there are extensive river 
valleys of low elevation. 

The river systems of Mexico and Central America 
flow into the two bounding oceans or into lakes which 
have no outlets. Several closed basins occur on the 
Mexican table-land. The Rio Nazas and the Rio 
Nieves flow into salt marshes in the northern state of 
Coahuila. But the most important interior basin is 
the Valley of Mexico. In this mountain enclosed val- 
ley, whose general level is 7,500 feet above the sea, there 
are five lakes which in order from north to south are 
named Tzompanco, Xaltocan, Tezcoco, Xochimilco, 
and Chalco. The last two contain fresh water, since 
they drain into Lake Tezcoco, but the rest are more or 
less brackish. Lake Tiezcoco is by far the largest 
although its area has been greatly reduced by natural 
and artificial causes since the coming of the Spaniards. 

The largest river of Mexico is the Rio Lerma which 
takes the name Rio de Santiago during its deep and 
tortuous passage from Lake Chapala to the Pacific. 
Farther to the south is the Rio de las Balsas which like- 
wise flows into the western ocean. The name means 
''River of the Rafts" and is given because of a peculiar 
floating apparatus made of gourds tied to a wooden 
framework that is used on this stream. Flowing into 
the Gulf of Mexico are several large streams, among 
which may be mentioned the Panuco, Alvarado, 
Grijalva, and Usumacinta. The last is by far the great- 
est in volume of water, and with its maze of tributaries 



18 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

drains a large area of swamp and jungle in which are 
buried some of the most wonderful ruined cities of the 
New World. 

In the northern part of Yucatan there are no rivers 
on the surface on account of the porous limestone. 
Instead there are great natural wells called cenotes 
where the roofs of subterranean rivers have fallen in. 
Many of the ancient cities were built near such natural 
wells. 

Passing to the south the most important river of 
Guatemala is the Motagua, which has cut a fine valley 
through a region of lofty mountains. In Honduras there 
are several large rivers, including the Uloa, Patuca, 
and Segovia. The lake region of Nicaragua is drained 
by the San Juan River that flows into the Caribbean 
Sea. Nearly all the streams of Central America that 
flow into the Pacific are short and steep torrents. An 
important exception is the Lempa River that forms 
part of the interior boundary of Salvador. 

Concerning lakes, mention has already been made of 
Chapala and Tezcoco, the most important in Mexico. 
The former is about fifty miles in length. In the state 
of Michoacan there are a number of beautiful lakes 
intimately connected with the history and mythology of 
the Tarascan Indians. The most famous is called 
Patzcuaro. In southern Yucatan the shallow body of 
water known as Lake Peten also has a distinct historical 
interest. Several lakes in Guatemala are well known 
on account of the rare beauty of their situation. Lake 
Atitlan is surrounded by lofty mountains, and Lake 
Izabal, or Golfo Dulce, is famous for the luxuriance of 
the ^'egetation that screens its banks. Lakes Nica- 
ragua and Managua are well known on account of their 
connection with the much-discussed canal projects. 



INTRODUCTION 19 

The Island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua bears an 
active volcano. 

In regard to the geology it is only necessary to point 
out a few of the more important characters. The high- 
lands which bear so many active and quiescent vol- 
canoes naturally show great masses of eruptive rocks, 
some due to recent action and others much more 
ancient. Porous tufa is a common material for sculp- 
tures in many parts of Mexico and Central America. 
In other places there are great beds of softer and finer 
grained material also of volcanic origin. In these places, 
such as Copan in western Honduras and Mitla in south- 
ern Mexico, building in stone received its greatest 
development. The soft greenish stone of Copan seems 
to be a solidified mud flow permeated with volcanic 
ash rather than a true lava flow of melted rock. Lime- 
stones are also common and important in the economic 
development. In some regions there are beds of a hard, 
blue limestone going back to the Carboniferous epoch. 
This stone makes an excellent cement after burning. 
The Peninsula of Yucatan is a great plain of limestone 
of much more recent formation. Like our own Florida 
it was once a coral reef which was lifted above the sea 
by some natural agency. This limestone gets older and 
more solid as we approach the base of the peninsula 
but at best is rather porous and coarse-grained. 

The fauna and flora present great variation. In the 
moist lowlands the monkeys play in the tree tops and 
the jaguar lies in wait for its prey. Alligators and 
crocodiles infest the rivers and swamps. Two small 
species of deer and the ocellated turkey are important 
items in the meat supply of Yucatan, that includes also 
the iguana, the peccary, and various large rodents. The 
tapir and manatee are the largest animals of the low- 
lands but neither seems to have been of great signifi- 



20 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 




Fig. 3. Yucatan Deer 
caught in a Snare. From 
the Maj^an Codex, Tro- 
Cortesianus. 



cance to the natives. Bats are frequently represented 

in the ancient art and a bat demon appears in several 

myths. 

Upon the highlands of Mexico the Toltecan deer is 

still hunted, together with the wild turkey, that is the 
parent of our domestic birds. 
The turkey was, in fact, domes- 
ticated by the Mexican tribes. 
It probably occurred southward 
over the Guatemalan highlands 
but is now extinct in this latter 
region. In the southern part of 
Central America the place of the 
turkey as an item of diet is taken 
by the curassow, a yellow-crested 

bird with black plumage. The coppery-tailed trogon, the 

famous quetzal, was sacred in ancient times and is now 

the emblem of Guatemala. This 

beautiful bird occurs only in the 

cloud cap forest zone on the high 

mountains of southern Mexico and 

Guatemala. Blue macaws, parrots, 

paroquets, and humming birds con- 
tributed their gay plumage to adorn 

headdresses and feather-covered 

cloaks. These and many other 

birds doubtless flitted about in the 

aviary of Moctezuma. The black 

vulture, the king vulture and the 

harpy eagle are other conspicuous 

birds often figured in the ancient 

art. The coyote, ocelot, and puma 

are the principal beasts of prey on the highlands. 
Among the characteristic trees of the lowlands may 

be mentioned the palm, which occurs in great variety^ 




Fig. 4. The Moan 
Bird, or Yucatan Owl, 
personified as a Demi- 
god. Dresden Codex. 



INTRODUCTION 21 

the amate and ceiba, both of which attain to large size, 
as weh as mahogany, Spanish cedar (which is not a 
cedar at all but a close relative of the mahogany), cam- 
peche, or logwood, rosewood, sapodilla, and other trees 
of commerce. Upon the higher mountain slopes are 
forests of long-leaf pine and of oak. In the desert 
.stretches the cactus is often tree-like and there are 
many shrubs that in the brief spring become masses of 
highly-colored blossoms. 

Some of the principal crops of Mexico and Central 
America have been introduced from the Old World, 
including coffee, sugar cane, and bananas. Other crops 
such as maize, beans, chili peppers, cocoa, etc., are 
indigenous. Among the native fruits may be men- 
tioned the aguacate, or alligator pear, the mamey, the 
anona, or custard apple, the guanabina, jocote, and 
nance. 

History of European Contact. The great area 
with which we are concerned has been in touch with 
Europe since the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
Columbus on his last voyage in 1 502 , Ian ded on the north- 
ern coast of Honduras and rounded the stormy cape 
called Gracias a Dios. Later he skirted the shore of Costa 
Rica and Panama and entered the body of water which 
was named in his honor Bahia del Almirante — Bay of the 
Admiral. He brought back sensational new^s of the 
gold in possession of the natives, which they had told 
him came from a district called Veragua. After a few 
years of stormy warfare the Spaniards established them- 
selves firmly in this golden land. Vasco Nuiiez de Bal- 
boa, who emerged from the bickering mob as the strong- 
est leader, was the first white man to cross the Isthmus. 
This he did in 1513, grandiloquently laying claim to the 
Pacific Ocean and all the shores that it touched in the 



22 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



name of Spain. The crown appointed the greedy and 
black-hearted Pedrarias Davila governor of Darien and 
in 1517 he succeeded in having Balboa beheaded on a 
flimsy charge. Colonization and exploration went for- 
ward rapidly. In 1519 the old city of Panama, now in 
ruins, was founded. The rich region around the Nica- 
raguan lakes was discovered by Gil Gonzalez Davila and 
the city of Granada was founded in 1524. The explora- 
tion from the southern base came in contact with 
that from the north in Salvador shortly after this 
event. 

Let us now" direct our attention to the conquest of 
Mexico. Perhaps the Portuguese were the first to sight 
the mainland of Yucatan in 1493. There is little to 
prove this except one or two charts or maps made in the 
first decade of the sixteenth century 
that show the peninsula in its proper 
location. In 1511 or 1512 a ship 
from Darien was wrecked and some 
of the sailors were cast upon the 
coast of Yucatan. Most of them were 
killed and sacrificed but two survived. 
One of these survivors was Geronimo 
de Aguilar, who later was rescued by 
Cortez and became his guide and 
interpreter. 

The first accredited voyage of discovery to Mexico 
was one under the command of Francisco Hernandez de 
Cordoba, which sailed from Cuba in February, 1517. 
He coasted the northern and eastern shores of Yucatan. 
When he attempted to obtain water he was worsted in a 
serious battle with the Maya Indians. His expedition 
finally returned to Cuba in a sad plight. The next year 
Juan de Grijalva set out to continue the exploration of 
the new land with the stone built cities. He landed at 




Fig. 5. Spanish 
Ship in the Aubin 
Codex. 



r ' 



0:. 



'film 



h' ■' 





Plate II. (a) Site of Pueblo Viejo, the First Capital of Guate- 
mala; (6) A Spanish Church at the Village of Camotan on the Road 
to Copan. 

23 



24 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

Cozumel Island and took possession. He explored the 
eastern coast of Yucatan as well as the northern and 
western ones, discovered the mouth of the large river 
that bears his name, and proceeded as far as the Island 
of Sacrifices in the harbor of Vera Cruz. 

The next year Hernando Cortez was sent out by 
Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, to conquer the new 
land. He landed at Cozumel Island and rescued Ge- 
ronimo de Aguilar. Then he followed the coast to the 
mouth of the Grijalva River whei'e he disembarked and 
fought the important battle of Cintla, the first engage- 
ment in the New World in which cavalry was used. 
After a signal victory Cortez continued his way to Vera 
Cruz. Here delay and dissension seemed about to 
break the luck of the invaders. 

Although the Mexicans were somewhat inclined to 
regard the Spaniards as supernatural ^dsitants and to 
associate their coming with the fabled return of Quet- 
zalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, still Moctezuma refused 
to grant an interview to Cortez. The Totonacan city of 
Cempoalan opened its gates and became allies of the 
invaders. Finally, at the instigation of their stout- 
hearted captain, the Spaniards destroyed their ships on 
the shore in order to steel their resolution through the 
impossibility of retreat. Then the little band of 450 
white men with their retinue of natives marched towards 
the highlands. The route led past Jalapa and over the 
mountains to the fortified city of Tlaxcala. This city 
after a skirmish likewise enlisted in the Spanish cause, 
a course that came easy because Tlaxcala was a tra- 
ditional enemy of Tenochtitlan, the ancient Mexico 
City, and had withstood the attacks of the Aztecs for 
many years. From here Cortez passed to the sacred 
city of Cholula where, suspecting treachery, he caused 
many of the inhabitants to be massacred. 



INTRODUCTION 



25 




Fig. 6. Cortez arrives with 
Sword and Cross and Mocte- 
zuma brings him Gold. Codex 
Vaticanus 3738. 



In the Spanish histories one hears much concerning 
the omens, the prophecies, and the vain appeals to the 
gods that became more and more frequent and frantic 
as the invaders approached the capital. Arriving at 
Ixtapalapan they entered 
upon the great causeway 
leading out to the Venice- 
like city in the lake. Ac- 
cepting the inevitable, 
Moctezuma and his nobles 
met the Spaniards and 
conducted them to the 
Palace of Axayacatl, which 
was prepared for their 
habitation. This took 
place in November, 1519. 
The fears of Moctezuma 
were soon fulfilled, for he was taken prisoner and held 
as a hostage of safety in his own capital. 

Meanwhile Velasquez, convinced of the unfaithful- 
ness of Cortez, dispatched Narvaez to capture the 
rebelhous agent. But Narvaez was himself captured 
and his soldiers went to augment the army of the victor. 

Alvarado had been left in command of the garrison at 
Tenochtitlan during the absence of Cortez. The time 
approached for the great feast of Tezcatlipoca and the 
Spaniards, fearing the results of this appeal to the 
principal Aztecan god, resolved to be the first to strike. 
The multitude assembled in the temple enclosure was 
massacred and after this deed the soldiers fought their 
way back to the stronghold in which they were quar- 
tered. The Aztecs were thoroughly aroused by this 
unwarranted cruelty as well as by the cupidity of the 
Spaniards. Cortez hastened back to take personal 
charge ; but in spite of victories in the storming of the 
pyramids and in other hand-to-hand contests, the in- 



26 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

vaders were so weakened that their condition was truly 
alarming. Moctezuma died in captivity and the last 
restraint of the natives was removed. 

The night of June 30, 1520, is famous as La Noche 
Triste — The Sad Night — for on this night the Spaniards 
attempted to steal out of the city that had become 
untenable. The natives were warned by a woman's 
shriek and a desperate encounter took place on the nar- 




Fig. 7. Aztecan C'anoe. Lienzo de Tlaxcala. 

row causeway leading to Tlacopan. The bridges were 
torn down and the Spanish soldiers in armor were 
hemmed in between the deep canals. At last, however, 
the firm land was reached. Here, instead of following 
up the victory, the natives permitted the Spaniards to 
re-form their ranks. A few days later Cortez was able 
to restore something of his lost prestige by the decisive 
victory at Otumba, after which he continued his retreat 
to the friendly Tlaxcala. 

A year was spent in recuperation, in building boats 
for an attack from the lake, and in putting down the 
Aztecan outposts. In the meantime the natives were 



INTRODUCTION 27 

suffering from a dreadful visitation of smallpox, in- 
troduced by the Spaniards, and Cuitlahuac, the succes- 
sor of Moctezuma, had died of this disease after a rule 
of eighty days. Finally Tenochtitlan was besieged 
again. The buildings were leveled to the ground as 
the Spaniards advanced. The brave defense of Cuauh- 
temoc availed for naught against cannon and steel 
armor. On the 13th of August, 1521, the conquest of 
Tenochtitlan was achieved and the spirit of a warlike 
people forever broken. 

The Valley of Mexico having been taken, numerous 
expeditions were sent out to subdue the more distant 
provinces and to establish colonies. Alvarado invaded 
the south and by 1524 he had captured Utatlan and 
other native strongholds on the highlands of Guate- 
mala and had invaded Salvador. Cortez himself under- 
took a wonderful march from Vera Cruz to the Gulf 
of Honduras to punish an unruly subordinate. His 
course lay through the swamps and jungles of the 
Usumacinta basin, thence across the savannahs of 
southern Yucatan to Lake Peten, and, finally, over the 
mountains to Lake Izabal and the Motagua River. 
Even today much of his route would be called impass- 
able for an army. Puerto Cortez, on the northern 
coast of Honduras, was founded at the conclusion of this 
expedition. The exploitation of Yucatan and Tabasco 
was granted to Francisco Montejo, who began the con- 
quest of this lowlying territory in 1527. The first cam- 
paigns were disastrous and heart-breaking. Several 
short-lived Salamancas were founded, one of them at 
Chichen Itza. But the odds were too great and by 1535 
all the Spaniards had been killed or expelled. The son 
of Montejo renewed the struggle. In 1541 Campeche 
was founded and early in 1541 the city of Merida was 
established upon the site of an earlier Mayan town. 




rii'irtMIEIirif ifitiiftiiii" i'f r-^i 




lb] 

Plate III. (a) View of the Island Town of Flores in Lake Peten 
where the Last Capital of the Itzas was located; (b) The Sacred 
Cenoic at Chichen Itza into which Human Beings were thrown 
as Sacrifices, along with Objects of Jade and Gold. 

28 



INTRODUCTION 29 

Progress was also rapid in the north. Nuno de Guz- 
man departed in 1529 on a mission to conquer Michoa- 
can and the great northern province known as New 
GaHcia. His rule was marred by many acts of cruelty. 
In 1538 Coronado, the successor of Guzman, led his 
army northward to the land of the Pueblo Indians and 
then out into the Great Plains. Before the first Eng- 
lish settlement was made in North America the power 
of Spain was firmly established, not only throughout 
Central America and Mexico, but also in the south- 
western part of the United States. 

The spiritual conquest was no less remarkable than 
the territorial. The priests accompanied and even 
preceded the armies with the doctrine of the cross. The 
rough and ready characters that enliven the wonderful 
drama of this period had the vices of greed and cruelty, 
but nearly all were imbued with a pride of religion, if not 
with the true flame. The firmness and bigotry on the 
one hand and the open sympathy on the other with 
which the Catholic fathers met the practical problems 
before them resulted in vast achievements. Either by 
accident or design certain patron saints and efficacious 
shrines of special interest to the natives were not long in 
becoming known. The Virgin of Guadeloupe and the 
Black Christ of Esquipulas brought many converts to 
the foreign faith. Church building was carried on 
apace. The various religious orders became rich and 
powerful and exerted a strong influence upon civil 
administration. 

The later history of this great region can be passed 
over briefly. Cortez was the first governor general of 
Mexico but he was soon shorn of his power as dictator 
at large. The First Audiencia was appointed in 1528 
and is noteworthy simply by reason of its misrule. The 
Second Audiencia, beginning two years later, put 



30 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

through some excellent reform laws. The first Viceroy, 
the great and good Mendoza, arrived in 1535 and for 
fifteen years the land prospered under his rule, which 
was benign without being weak. He was succeeded by 
Luis de Velasco, who emancipated many of the enslaved 
Indians. The long line of viceroys continued until 1821 
when Spain was forced to relinquish her provinces in 
America, Among the greatest of the viceroys was 
Bucareli, the forty-sixth in line, who ruled Mexico from 
1771-1779 while the United States of America were just 
beginning to feel the pulse of life. 

During the viceregal period in Mexico the region to 
the south was ruled by the captain general of Guate- 
mala. The dominion was subdivided into five depart- 
ments corresponding to the modern republics of Guate- 
mala (which then included the Mexican state of Chi- 
apas), Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. 
Panama was ruled from the South American province 
of New Granada. 

Weakened by Napoleonic wars and rent by internal 
dissensions, Spain found herself in the first two decades 
of the nineteenth century unable to maintain her wan- 
ing power in America. Bolivar and his brother patriots 
raised the standard of revolt in South America in 1810 
and in the same year war for independence broke out in 
the north. Hidalgo, the parish priest of Dolores, rang 
the liberty bell of Mexican freedom on the 16th of 
September, 1810. This beloved patriot was captured 
the year following, and shot, but the revolution once 
begun was continued under Morelos and other leaders. 
After 1815 the cause seemed hopeless, but in 1820 there 
was a new uprising and General Iturbide, who was sent 
to put it down, turned his army against the govern- 
ment and established himself as emperor. Central 
America was also included in this Mexican empire. The 



INTRODUCTION 31 

rule of Iturbide soon became unpopular and in 1823 he 
abdicated his throne. The Mexican republic that was 
then instituted continued until the French intervention 
in 1861. During this time the most noteworthy events 
were the war with the United States in 1846-47 and the 
passing of the reform laws under Benito Juarez that 
freed Mexico from the oppressions of the church. 

As a result of the French intervention Maximilian of 
Austria was made emperor. This unfortunate ruler, 
who did much to beautify Mexico City, was dethroned 
and shot in 1867. The republic was then re-established. 
. The other republics of Central America formed a 
federal union at the time the first Mexican empire came 
to an end in 1823. This union was preserved till 1839 
and several later attempts were made to restore it. The 
five republics have had such tempestuous careers as a 
result of warfare, usurpation, and political brigandage 
that their material and social development has been 
stunted. Costa Rica is, however, on the high road to 
stability. 

Panama was until 1903 a part of Colombia. British 
Honduras had its origin in the concessions given to 
English logwood gatherers and to the fact that pirates 
found refuge behind the coral reefs that line the shores. 
The English claim to the Mosquito Coast rested upon a 
similar flimsy basis, and was finally abandoned. 

Languages. About twenty distinct groups of re- 
lated languages, technically known as linguistic stocks, 
were found in Mexico and Central America. Some of 
these stocks occupied small areas and showed little in 
the way of dialectic variation. A few stocks stretched 
over wide territories and were divided into many mutu- 
ally unintelligible tongues, which in turn were sub- 
divided into well-defined dialects. Several entire stocks 



32 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

are now extinct and others are rapidly approaching 
extinction through the substitution of Spanish. A 
number of languages, however, are still spoken by hun- 
dreds of thousands of natives. 

The language having the greatest geographical exten- 
sion within the area under consideration is the Nahuan, 
now consolidated wdth the Piman, Shoshonean, etc., in 
a great stock called the Uto-Aztecan. In its extent this 
stock may be compared to the Indo-Iranian of the 
Old World which comprises most of the modern and 
ancient languages of Europe as well as those of a large 
part of Asia. Within the United States are the numer- 
ous Shoshonean tribes found as far north as Idaho, 
reaching into California on the one hand and into 
Texas on the other. In southern Arizona and north- 
western Mexico come the Piman group. East of the 
Sierra Madre are the Tarahumare and the Tepehuane. 
These languages are mutually unintelligible, although 
morphologically related, and all are subdivided into 
dialects. The relationship is proved through laborious 
comparison and analysis of the words and grammar, in 
the same way as the philologist proves that Persian, 
Greek, Russian, English and Welsh are all cognate 
tongues. Farther to the south are still other divisions 
of the stock; including the Huichol and Cora of the 
mountainous region north of Guadalajara and the 
Mexican or Aztecan of the valley of Mexico and adja- 
cent country. The Mexican language is still spoken by 
a million or more natives and is divided into a number of 
dialects. Properly the Aztecs are a single tribe whose 
chief city was Tenochtitlan, the ancient Mexican City. 
They first appear on the page of history as the Mexitin 
in 1090 A.D., but the closely related Chalca, Xochi- 
milca, etc., appear at considerably earlier times. 
Mexican colonies were widespread before the coming of 



INTRODUCTION 33 

the Spaniards and during the Conquest the distribution 
of this nation was made still greater. The Mexicans, 
and especially the natives of Tlaxcala, accompanied the 
Spaniards on military expeditions against other tribes 
and as a consequence many place names in southern 
Mexico and Guatemala were translated into their 
la,nguage. There were, however, large groups of Indians 
of this stock already located in this territory: the 
Pipiles were given their name, which means "boys," 
because their speech was somewhat different from 
classical Mexican. They were situated in southern 
Guatemala and in Salvador. Still farther south were 
the Niquirao of Nicaragua and a little-known group 
called the Sigua in Costa Rica. 

The wide geographical distribution of Uto-Aztecan 
languages has an undeniable historical significance. The 
numerous tribes represent a very wide range in culture 
albeit nearly all are dwellers of arid or semi-arid regions. 
Some, like the Paiute,are miserable ''diggers" willing to 
eat anything that will support life; others like the 
Comanche are warlike raiders; more progressive tribes 
like the Hopi have adopted agriculture and developed 
interesting arts and customs; while the highest mem- 
bers of the group are among the most civilized nations of 
the New World. It seems clear that language can be 
used as a basis of classification over a much greater 
stretch of time than can other social habits summed up 
as ''culture." Particular phases of art, religion, and 
government develop and disappear, but the grouping of 
sounds used to express ideas remains as proof that 
peoples now far apart geographically as well as in their 
habits and achievements were once close together. The 
peculiar distribution of the Uto-Aztecan languages 
may indicate a general southward movement of the 
stock. 



34 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

The second most important linguistic stock is the 
Mayan, now spoken by over half a million people. 
This stock has only one outlying member, namely, the 
Huasteca of northern Vera Cruz. The other twenty- 
one languages cover a continuous area in the Mexican 
states of Yucatan, Tabasco, and Chiapas and in the 
republic of Guatemala. The most important language 
of the group is the Maya proper, which is spoken by the 
natives of Yucatan and by the Lacandone Indians of the 
Usumacinta Valley. The Tzental, Quiche, Cakchiquel, 
Choi, and Chorti are other prominent languages. 

In the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are the 
Zapotecan and Mixtecan stocks, which differ widely in 
sound and structure from the Mayan and Nahuan 
tongues that hem them in. West and east of the 
Valley of Mexico are, respectively, the Tarascan and 
Totonacan stocks, which show no great amount of 
subdivision. In Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa 
Rica are several language groups that have never been 
carefully studied. It seems likely that some of these 
will be consolidated when words and grammatical 
structures are better known. The Chiapanecan lan- 
guages were spoken in three localities on the Pacific 
side of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, while a fourth di\'i- 
sion occupied a small area far to the northwest on the 
banks of the Chiapas River. It is now believed that the 
Mazatecan, the Otomi group, as well as a number of 
minor languages, belong in a single stock with the Chia- 
panecan. If this supposed connection should prove true a 
northern movement of the stock would be pretty surely 
indicated. Parts of the Isthmian region were held by 
tribes having linguistic affiliation with South America. 
It is not unlikely that a considerable back flow from 
South America made itself felt along the Atlantic coast 
of Central America, if we may judge by ethnological 
features and by suggested linguistic connections. 



INTRODUCTION 



35 



Ethnology. To a less extent than the native lan- 
guages the old-t me customs still hold out against the 
tide of European influence. In regions not easily 
accessible on account of deserts, mountains, or tropical 



£/5Afuv;^^4\euv£/5AS^iVcnAe 




?»=V£jRAaSV:y^^i\^^2ft'£n^V?*iVS 



Fig. 8. Design on Modern Huichol Ribbon. 




Fig. 9. Woven Poucli of the Huichol Indians showing Two- 
Headed Austrian Eagle. 



jungles, there are a number of Indian tribes that 
preserve in a large measure their ancient arts and ideas. 
But the study of these remnant peoples has not been 
very thorough. 



36 MEXICO AND CENTKAL AMERICA 

The Pima, Seri, Tarahumare, Tepehuane, and other 
tribes of the extreme north and northwest of Mexico 
have until recent times been comparatively unmodified 
by Spanish influences. Basketry, textiles, and pottery 
have been maintained by them as well as many religious 
ceremonies. Farther south among the Cora and 
Huichol there is also considerable purity in this regard. 
The woven fabrics of these Indians are very beautiful 
but introduced ideas are frequently seen. For instance, 
a very common motive in Huichol textile art is the two- 
headed Austrian eagle evidently taken from the coins 
of Charles V. Crowns similar to those worn by the two- 
headed eagle are often shown on the heads of rampant 
animals. But the greater number of the motives are 
doubtless of native origin. 

Among the Huichol and Tarahumare the curious 
peyote, or hikule worship may be studied. A small 
variety of cactus is eaten, which induces ecstasy or 
stupor accompanied by color visions and peculiar 
dreams. Associated with the eating and gathering of 
this plant there are elaborate ceremonies. The religious 
cult of the peyote has swept over a large portion of the 
Great Plains Area of the United States and is known 
even to Indians in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes. 
There can be no doubt that the narcotic action of the 
peyote was known to the Aztecs, who made a ceremo- 
nial use of it under the name teonanacatl. An intoxi- 
cating drink called teswin is commonly made in north- 
ern Mexico from the heart of the mescal plant. It takes 
the place of the famous ptdque, the ancient beverage 
of the Mexican highlands. Hunting dances in which are 
employed regalia and ceremonial objects of great inter- 
est occur among the Huichol and neighboring tribes. 
The so-called "god's eyes" made of yarn strung spider- 
web fashion over crossed sticks are practically identical 



INTRODUCTION 37 

with the ''squash blossoms" of the Pueblo Indians. 
There are also real temple structures, or "god houses/' 
which are very significant when we consider the former 
importance of the temple among the more highly civi- 
lized peoples to the south. In these and other respects 
the Huichol culture is about midway between the cul- 
' ture of the Southwestern Pueblo tribes and that which 
formerly existed in central Mexico. 

Elsewhere in northern and central Mexico it is 
possible to find many suggestions of ancient Indian 
ways of living. In nearly all the outlying villages the 
old-time thatched huts are still used, while baskets, 
gourd vessels, wooden bowls, earthen pots, and other 
household objects hark back to native origins although 
often modified by European contact. For instance, 
glazing is commonly seen on the modern pottery. 
Many travelers in Mexico bring away as souvenirs 
pieces of pottery from Guadalajara and Cuernavaca. 
These wares are made by Indians, but in decoration 
they have only slight traces of the ancient art of the 
Mexicans. 

In dress there are noteworthy survivals. The pon- 
cho and serape made either on the narrow hand loom 
or on a crude form of the Spanish tread loom are pic- 
turesque elements in the national dress that are rapidly 
disappearing from view. Time was when the rich 
plantation owner wore a gayly colored blanket on 
fiesta days. The most famous centers for the manu- 
facture and sale of blankets were the cities of Saltillo 
and San Miguel. The Saltillo pattern shows a medal- 
lion consisting of concentric diamonds in various colors 
upon an all-over design in stripes. The motives are 
minute geometric figures skilfully interlocked. The 
colors are rich and permanent and are combined in a 
very pleasing manner. Saltillo blankets must be classed 






-sC — •■'^ 

W^ ..n, 'J.'S "" 



|f -. v^* v^ I -i- ^ ^^ ^ u^ ^^ ,^ 



1»tf- >~. 


■^- ■*- 


'fe- 


— !Sf- 


'^K <:k 


--«c 


•^ 


v^- ^ 


^ w 


%*.-- •• 


- ^v 


**f ■>- 




[t] 

Plate IV. (a) A Guatemalan huipili decorated with Highly Con- 
ventionalized Animals in Embroidery; (h) Pouches of the Valiente 
Indians of the Chiriqiii Lagoon, Panama. 

38 



INTRODUCTION 39 

among the finest textile products of the world. The 
best period was before 1850. San Miguel blankets 
show characteristically a rosette instead of a diamond 
in the center. Many beautiful blankets come from 
other localities in Mexico. The Chimayo blankets have 
the same part Indian, part Spanish origin and are made 
by the Spanish-speaking natives in the mountain val- 
leys of New Mexico. 

In southern Mexico there are many towns of Indians 
where the women still wear the finely embroidered 
huipih. This old-time garment varies considerably in 
different towns but as a rule it is a simple sack-like 
gown cut square at the neck and with short sleeves. 
Sometimes it is shortened to a blouse, and is worn with a 
skirt ; at other times a short huipili is worn over a longer 
one. An easily visited town where the natives still 
wear the old-time dress is Amatlan, within an hour's 
walk of Cordova. The women of the Isthmus of 
Tehuantepec have a gorgeous costume of which the 
most remarkable feature is a wide ruff worn around the 
neck or on the back of the head. The Mayan women 
of Yucatan wxar white huipili with needlework in color 
around the bottom. On the highlands of Guatemala 
the huipili is usually a blouse. The skirt sometimes 
consists of a strip of cloth wrapped several times around 
the body. 

The Lacandone Indians live in the marshy jungles 
that border the winding Usumacinta. They speak the 
same tongue as the Maya Indians of Yucatan but in the 
matter of culture they have acquired little from the 
Spaniards. They still weave simple garments and make 
pottery vessels. In hunting they use the bow and 
arrow, the latter usually tipped with a point of stone. 
In their religious practices they use incense burners 
which are comparable to those of the sixteenth century. 



INTRODUCTION 41 

The Caribs occupy the greater part of the north coast 
of Guatemala and Honduras, running east from the port 
of Livingston on the Gulf of Amatique. These people, 
originally of South America and later of the West Indies 
as well, were deported by the English from the Island 
of St. Vincent in 1796. They have now established 
themselves in the new land where they raise the manioc 
or cassava root and press out the poisonous juice in a 
basketry tube as do their kindred in the Orinoco Val- 
ley. Long before the forcible immigration it is likely 
that the Caribs, who were cannibalistic in habit, had 
raided the shores of Central America in their seagoing 
canoes. A significant passage in the chronicles of the 
Mayas states that naked man-eating savages visited 
Yucatan long before the coming of the Spaniards. 

The Mosquito Indians of the east coast of Nicaragua 
and Honduras have a very considerable negro admix- 
ture. They are fishermen of low culture. Farther in- 
land are found the Sumo who flatten the heads of their 
children and who hold strange feasts in honor of the 
dead in which the dancers are masked so that none may 
be recognized. A string is stretched over the tree tops 
from the grave to the feasting place and over this string 
the ghost of the dead person is supposed to walk. When 
everyone has fallen in a drunken stupor from 7nishla 
the ghost of the dead man departs for the land of the 
dead. These Sumo Indians build large houses with open 
sides and are very skilful at fishing with bow and 
arrow and steering their canoes through white rapids. 
They practise polygamous marriages, weave cotton, 
and make interesting beadwork ornaments. 

In the narrow Isthmian region there are tribes of 
Indians that resist manfully the inroads of civilization. 
Perhaps the best known of these are the San Bias 
Indians who inhabit the mountain fastnesses east of 



42 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

the Canal Zone. In northern Costa Rica the Guatuso 
and Tahimanca tribes still maintain to a considerable 
degree their old native character. 

Physical Types. Minor physical differences in 
stature, head form, and facial expression mark off pretty 
clearly the tribes of this area from each other. The 
stature is lowest among the Mayas and Mazatecs, 
the average being about 5 feet 1 inch, while among the 
Tarascans, Tlaxcalas, and Zapotecs, it averages about 
5 feet 3 inches. The other tribes of Central America 
and of central Mexico fall between these extremes. In 
northern Mexico the stature increases considerably, 
average measurements for the Yaqui being in excess of 
5 feet 6 inches. To make up for their lack of height 
the southern Indians are sturdy and heavy muscled, 
with deep chests. Their hair is usually black and 
straight, but occasionally wavy. Light beards and 
mustaches are sometimes worn, especially by the 
Mayas. The eyes are so dark brown as to appear black 
to the casual observer. They are set rather wide apart 
and while usually horizontal they seem, in some in- 
stances, to have a slight Mongoloid tilt. Noses vary 
greatly but are often finely aquiline. The cephalic 
index (obtained by dividing the breadth of the head by 
its length and multiplying the result by 100) is rather 
high. The Mayas are strongly round-headed with an 
index of 85.0 while their linguistic relatives, the Tzen- 
dals, have a medium index of 76.8. The other tribes of 
southern Mexico fall between these extremes. No long- 
headed peoples are found in this area although in north- 
ern Mexico some tribes approach the long-headed type. 




, - . . J ^ . , , . X. ■ ,u p.;„^inal Archsological Sites with a Detail Insert of the Valley of xMexico. 

of Mexico and Central America showing the Principal Arm^ & 



Chapter I 
THE ARCHAIC HORIZON 

IN 1910 an actual stratification of human products 
was found in the environs of Mexico City in which 
three principal culture horizons could readily be 
discerned. A collection made at this time is on exhibi- 
tion in the American Museum of Natural History. In 
part this stratification verified theories of culture succes- 
sion already held by students working in this field. 
Since that time careful research in several localities has 
been carried on under the International School of 
Archaeology and many authenticated specimens from 
the three layers have been brought together. The low- 
est layer, characterized by crude figurines of a peculiar 
style, was soon found to correspond to an art long known 
as Tarascan. This art had been referred to the Tarascan 
Indians of the state of Michoacan, notwithstanding the 
fact that the most noteworthy specimens came from 
outside the Tarascan area. 

It now seems likely that the archaic art was the com- 
mon product of all the tribes then living on the Mexican 
highlands but that the Nahuan tribes led in its develop- 
ment and dissemination. It is most common in regions 
inhabited by the Nahuan tribes and seems to have been 
carried southw^ard by certain of these tribes who mi- 
grated to Guatemala, Salvador, and Nicaragua. In 
these southern Nahuan areas the archaic art, at least so 
far as the humsn figurines are concerned, is often in- 
distinguishable from that of the north. Beyond Nica- 
ragua it is possible to follow the stream of this ancient 
art well into South America, but these southernmost 
occurrences are accompanied by changes in form and 
technique. 

43 



44 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 




Stratification of Remains. Atzcapotzalco was 
once an important center of the Tepanecan tribe situ- 
ated on the shores of Lake Tezcoco. It was an early 
rival of Tenochtitlan. the Aztecan 
capital, and was conquered and partly 
destroyed in 1439. The principal mod- 
ern industry of Atzcapotzalco is mak- 
ing bricks, and several mounds and 
much of the surface of the plain have 
been removed for this purpose. In the 
mounds are found many pottery ob- 
jects of the late Toltecan period, while 
on the surface of the ground are 
encountered fragments of the typical 
x^ztecan pottery in use when the Span- 
iards arrived. 

The stratification of the plain varies 
in different places so far as the thick- 
ness of the different strata is concerned, 
but the order is always the same. At one 
locality it is as shown in Fig. 11. First comes a layer of 
fine soil of volcanic ash origin, probably deposited by 
the wind. This is five or six feet in thickness, yellowish 
at the top, and much darker towards the bottom, with 
streaks and discolorations. The Aztecan pottery is 
found close to the surface, while Toltecan pottery occurs 
in the middle and lower sections. Underneath the soil 
layers lies a thick stratum of water-bearing gravel mixed 
with sand. This gravel stratum is possibly the old bed 
of a stream that formerly entered Lake Tezcoco near 
this point. In some places it is fifteen or eighteen 
feet in thickness. Scattered throughout the gravel are 
heavy, waterworn fragments of pots as well as more or 
less complete figurines of the archaic type. 

At other sites, such as Colhuacan, the Toltecan layer 



Fig. 10. Atzca- 
potzalco Destroy- 
ed. The temple 
burns at the 
Place of the Ant. 



THE ARCHAIC HORIZON 



45 



is of greater thickness and the archaic layer of lesser 
thickness. The remains extend below the present level 
of the water and may indicate that considerable changes 
have taken place in the level of the lake. But we must 
remember that many of the ancient settlements were 




zo 



Temple mounds of Tol- 
tecan period. 

Surface finds of Aztecan 
period. 

Remains of Toltecan 
period. 



Deep stratum of water- 
bearing gravels contain- 
ing remains of archaic 
peripd. 




Bed rock of hard clay. 



Fig. 11. Diagram of Culture Strata at Atzcapotzalco. 



built over the water and that land was made in ancient 
times, as it is today in the gardens of Xochimilco, by 
deepening canals. Archaic remains are also common on 
the denuded tops of hills which may once have been 
covered by soil. 





1^] 

Plate VI. (a) Stone Sculptures of the Archaic Period. This 
resembles the pottery as regards stjde: the eyes protrude and the 
limbs are carved in low relief against the body; (6) Archaic Site imder 
Lava Flow near Mexico City. A local museum will be established 
at this site in electric-lighted tunnels. 



46 



THE ARCHAIC HORIZON . 47 

The Cemetery under the Lava. An ancient 
cemetery lying under lava has recently been explored in 
a suburb of Mexico City. The lava swept down from 
Mount Ajusco in some cataclysm perhaps 3000 years ago, 
covering many square miles of territory to the depth of 
thirty or forty feet, and burying such villages as chanced 
to lie in its path. (See PI. VI6) . The discovery of human 
remains was made several hundred feet back from the 
original front of the lava flow in a quarry where lava 
rock was being removed to build roads. Tales of clay 
figurines found under the lava in this quarry have been 
current for years, but no serious investigation was made 
until human burials were met with in the earth under 
the great lava cap. Then a series of tunnels was dug 
and a considerable number of ancient burials were un- 
covered, but not moved from their original position. 
One now enters an electric-lighted graveyard and sees 
human bodies lying exactly as they have lain for untold 
centuries, with the funeral offerings beside them. This 
enormously important find gives us an historical level in 
mid- Archaic. 

Invention of Agriculture. Before examining in 
greater detail the art of the Archaic Horizon let us 
consider its real significance. It is generally ad- 
mitted that America was originally populated from 
Asia, but on a culture level no higher than the Neolithic. 
The simple arts of stone chipping, basketiy, fire-making, 
etc., were probably brought over by the earliest immi- 
grants, but there is abundant evidence that pottery- 
making, weaving, and agriculture were independently 
invented long after the original settlement. The cul- 
tivated plants in the New World are different from those 
of the OM World and there is a vast area in north- 
western America and northeastern Asia, upon the only 



48 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



open line of communication, where agriculture and the 
higher arts have never been practised. 

Now the invention of agriculture is an antecedent 
necessity for all the high cultures of the New World. It 
is equally clear that this invention must have taken 
place in a locality where 
some important food plant 
grew in a wild state. By far 
the most important food 
plant of the New World is 
maize. While this plant has 
changed greatly under do- 
mestication, botanists are 
inclined to find its nearest 
relative and possible pro- 
genitor in a wild grass 
growing on the highlands 
of Mexico and known by 
the Aztecan name teocentli, 
which means sacred maize. 
It is known that maize is 
at its best in a semi-arid 
tropical environment. It 

cannot be brought to withstand frost although the 
growing season can be cut down to meet the require- 
ments of a short summer. Geographically its use 
extended from the St. Lawrence to the Rio de la Plata 
and from sea level to an elevation of fifteen thousand 
feet in tropical regions. The Mexican highlands occupy 
the central position in the area of its distribution and 
archaeological evidence strongly points to this region 
as being the cradle of agriculture and the attendant arts. 
Besides maize, the most widely distributed food plants 
of the New^ World are beans and squashes. Certain 
other plants were cultivated in more restricted areas 




Fig. 12. Teocentli or Mexican 
Fodder Grass. 



THE ARCHAIC HORIZON 49 

and may have had different places of origin. For in- 
stance, manioc was doubtless brought under cultivation 
in a humid lowland region, probably the Amazon Valley, 
and the same may be said of sweet potatoes. The com- 
mon potato was found under domestication in Peru and 
there is no very good evidence that its use extended 
into Central America. 

Irrigation would have been necessary before agricul- 
ture could have been developed to any great extent on 
the highlands of Mexico. Although irrigation is often 
looked upon as a remarkable sequel of the introduction 
of agriculture into an arid country, yet from the best 
historical evidence at our command we should rather 
regard it as a conception which accounts for the very 
origin of agriculture itself. The earliest records of 
cultivated plants are from Mesopotamia, Egypt, 
Mexico, and Peru where irrigation was practised. 
In these regions are also seen the earliest develop- 
ments of the characteristic arts of sedentary peoples, 
namely, pottery and weaving, and the elaborate social 
and religious structures that result from a sure food 
supply and a reasonable amount of leisure. 

If this theory is true we must admit that below the 
Archaic Horizon we should find traces of a horizon of 
non-agricultural peoples. Unfortunately, such peoples 
make fewer objects and scatter them more widely than 
do sedentary agriculturists. 

No one on the basis of present knowledge can offer 
more than an opinion concerning the date of the inven- 
tion of agriculture in the New World and the subse- 
quent beginning of the pottery art that will now claim 
our attention. The thick deposits argue great age and 
a thousand years or even more might have elapsed be- 
fore this archaic art ran its natural course and was suc- 
ceeded by higher arts at about the time of Christ. 





f^^ 


■ 


t ""' ->»'■■■. -^^ 


^^M 




1 



[b] 

Plate VII. (a) Large Archaic Figures found in Graves and offer- 
ing Evidence of Ancient Customs and Arts. From Tepic and Jalisco; 
(b) Archaic Figures which show a Quality of Caricature or ])ossibly 
Po7'traiture. 



50 



THE ARCHAIC HORIZON 



51 



Archaic Figurines. Archaic art is characterized 
by figures of men and women modeled in clay and some- 
times painted. The forms are peculiar and the tech- 
nique well standardized. Most are modeled in a flat 
gingerbread fashion into a gross shape. Upon this 
gross shape special features are indicated by stuck-on 




Fig. 13. Figurines from the Earliest Culture Horizon in Mexico: 
a-c, Atzcapotzalco; d, San Juan Teotihuacan; e, Tuxpan; /, Zapotlan; 
q. Cuernavaca. 



ribbons and buttons of clay and by gougings and incis- 
ings with some pointed instrument. Modeling was 
done entirely by hand, moulds being as yet unknown. 
The figurines are usually from two to five inches in 
height and often represent nude women in sitting or 
standing positions with the hands upon the knees, hips, 
or breasts. The heads are characteristically of slight 
depth compared with their height, the limbs taper 
rapidly from a rather plump torso and hands and feet 



52 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



are mere knobs with incised details. When the figures 
are intended to stand erect, as is often the case, the feet 
show signs of having been pinched between the thumb 
and finger of the potter so that they have a forward and 
backward cusp and a broad base of support. Groov- 
ings are seen in connection with the hair, eyes, mouth, 




Fig. 14. Archaic Figurine from Salvador. 

fingers, toes, and details of dress and ornament. Paint 
is often added to this surface to indicate tattooing, tex- 
tile patterns, etc. 

The eyes of the archaic images — and the mouths as 
well — are made according to several methods. First, 
there is the simple groove; second, a groove across an 
applied ball or button of clay; third, a round gouging 
made by the end of a blunt implement held vertically; 
fourth, a round gouging in an applied ball or button of 
clay; fifth, two gougings made with a round or chisel- 
edged implement held at an angle. The second form 
of eye, which resembles a grain of coffee, and the fifth 
form with the double gouging made from the center out- 
ward, are found from the northern limits of archaic art 
in Mexico as far south as Colombia and Venezuela. 



THE ARCHAIC HORIZON 53 

' The technique of manufacture naturally changes 
somewhat with the increase in size. There is also 
reason to believe that the largest hollow figures come 
from the end of the Archaic Period in Mexico, and 
especially those that have been found in the state of 
Jalisco and the territory of Tepic. The eyelids are often 
i-ather carefully modeled and sometimes an eyeball is 



Fig. 15. Types of Eyes of Archaic Figurines. 

put in between the lids. These and perforated eyes 
seem to be the latest characters to be developed in the 
archaic art and it is significant that they are not found 
over such a wide area as the forms of eyes given above. 

Ancient Customs. We may gather much of an 
ethnological nature from the study of these quaint 
figures. Articles of dress and adornment are shown as 
well as musical instruments, weapons, etc. Head- 
dresses may consist of fillets, turbans, and objects 
perched on one side of the head. Noserings and ear- 
rings are abundantly represented and in considerable 
variety. We may be sure that weaving was rather 
highly developed because many garments such as 
shirts, skirts, and aprons are painted or incised with 
geometric designs. Body painting, or tattooing, appears 
to have been a common usage. Among weapons the 
atlatl, or spear-thrower, was already known and knobby 
clubs seem to have been popular. Men are shown 
beating on drums and turtle shells, while women nurse 
children and carry water. Since the large figures of 
clay are often found in tombs it is not impossible that 
they were intended to be portraits of the dead. Many 
have a startling quality of caricature. 



54 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



Archaic art is a pretty certain index of the reUgion 
then in vogue. There is a notable absence of purposely 
grotesque or compounded figures representing divinities 
such as will be found in the later horizons. We miss en- 
tirely the characteristic Mexican gods such as Tlaloc 
and Ehecatl. Dogs are frequently modeled in clay 
and were apparently developed into a rather special 




Fig. Iti. Textile Designs painted on Archaic Effigies. 



domestic breed. Snakes are sometimes found as a 
plastic decoration on pottery but there are few signs of 
serpent worship. We can find no evidence that human 
sacrifice was practised. The presence of human 
figurines in graves has already been mentioned and the 
suggestion made that some of them may have been in- 
tended as portraits of the dead. Nude female figurines 
in sitting or standing positions have an unbroken distri- 
bution from Mexico into South America and it is not un- 
likely the primitive agriculturists associated them with 



THE ARCHAIC HORIZON 55 

fertility and used them as amulets to secure good 
crops. The male figurines may have been votive offer- 
ings for success at arms. 

Archaic Pottery. The ordinary pottery of the 
Archaic Period from Mexico and Central America is 
heavy and simple in shape. The globular bowl with a 
constricted neck is a common form as well as wide- 
mouthed bowls with or without tripod supports. Lugs 
and handles are very common. When plain, the tripods 




Fig. 17. Typical Tripod Vessels of the Archaic Period, from Morelcs, 
Mexico. 

are large, hollow and rounded, with a perforation on the 
under side, but they are often modified into faces and 
feet. Many vessels are decorated by the addition of 
modeled faces enabling us to make a direct connection 
with the figures in clay already described. 

In fact the decoration of pottery of this early period 
is predominantly in relief. Paint is sparingly used and 
then only in the simplest geometric fashion. There is 
a general lack of conventionalized motives presenting 
animals and other natural forms in highly modified 
ways. In later ages the painted decoration is much 
concerned with the serpent, but except for a few wind- 
ing serpents in relief, this motive is not seen on the 
pottery of the Archaic Period. 

Stone Sculptures of the Archaic Period . The 

earliest stone sculptures are recognized first by resem- 
blance to the ceramic art just described and second by a 





Plate VIII. Costa Rican Figures of Archaic Type (a) contrasted 
with those of a Later Time (b). Note that in the first series the 
human body is adapted to the surface of a boulder with the arms, 
legs, and face in low relief and with eyes, nose, and mouth all protrud- 
ing, while in the second series the limbs are rounded and partly 
freed from the body. 



THE ARCHAIC HORIZON 



57 



quality which they possess of being archaic in an abso- 
lute sense. The greater difficulty of working stone as 
compared with clay and the longer time required in the 
process makes stone art less subject to caprice than 
ceramic art. Perhaps the most primitive examples of 
stone sculpture are boulders rudely carved in a sem- 
.blance of the human form with features either sunken 
or in relief. The arms and legs are ordinarily flexed so 
that the elbows meet over the knees. The eyes and 




Fig. 18. Series showing the Modification of a Celt into a Stone Amulet. 



mouths in the most carefully finished pieces protrude, 
but the face has little or no modeling. Many celts are 
modified into figures by grooves, and faces are fre- 
quently represented on roughly conical or disk-shaped 
stones. 

We know very little from actual excavations concern- 
ing houses of the Archaic Period. It is likely that they 
were small and impermanent, possibly resembling the 
modern huts. The pyramidal mound as a foundation 
for the temple was possibly developed towards the end 
of the Archaic Period. It would be interesting to 
determine whether adobe moulded into bricks was 
known at this time, as it was at a later time in the same 
region, or whether walls were built up out of fresh mud 
possibly reinforced by slabs of stone. 




Plate IX. \M(lely Distributed Female Figurines: (o) Nicar- 
agua; (/)) Panama; (c) Venezuela; (d) Island of Marajo, Brazil. 

58 



THE ARCHAIC HORIZON 59 

Extensions of the Archaic Horizon . The curi- 
ous objects of ceramic art that we have found deeply 
buried under the debris of higher civilizations in the 
Valley of Mexico can be traced practically without 
change in form to Nicaragua. They are encountered 
for the most part in arid and open country, and since 
we have every reason to believe that the earliest agri- 
culture was developed under irrigation, it is but natural 
to find the use of agriculture spreading first into other 
arid regions. 

In the Isthmian region (Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and 
Panama) many figurines of archaic type are found, and 
besides there are fine series of figurines that are obvi- 
ously developed from the archaic. Still further south 
and east in Colombia and Venezuela the typical art of 
the archaic horizon again appears in almost pure form, 
although local developments are also to be noted. 
Everywhere the remains are most plentiful in arid 
regions. It now seems that the trail of this ancient 
pottery art, marking the first dissemination of agricul- 
ture, can be traced across the northern part of South 
America to the mouth of the Amazon and southward 
along the Andes to the coastal regions of Peru. It is 
surely significant that figurines from the Island of 
Marajo near Para, Brazil, have fundamental similarities 
to those from Venezuela and Central America and that a 
stratification of human remains at Ancon, Peru, as 
explained by Dr. Max Uhle, shows plastic art in clay 
similar to that of Central America in the lowermost 
level. The problem of local developments deserves 
careful study because if the theory that this pottery art 
spread hand in hand with agriculture be true then the 
greatest similarities should be seen in the oldest objects. 
Once the primary dissemination of agriculture and 
ceramics had taken place there would be few inventions 



60 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

capable of breaking down the ordinary boundaries of 
language and environment as these had done. In our 
own times the horse, introduced by the Spaniards, 
spread rapidly through native tribes, modifying their 
lives greatly. It is capable of demonstration that with 
the horse went the two types of saddle — the pack saddle 
and the riding saddle. Similarly, in the rapid first 
spreading of agriculture, pottery and possibly weaving 
appear as parts of a complex. Of course, we must grant 
a sufficient time in the original home of agriculture for 
these things to be developed. 

Two maps of the New World are given herewith : the 
first showing the extension of the archaic horizon and 
the second the final distribution of pottery among the 
American Indians and the final distribution of agricul- 
ture. The agricultural area is subdivided according to, 
first, the arid land type where irrigation is generally 
practised; second, the humid land type; and third, the 
temperate land type. The first type of agriculture 
app'ears to be the earliest and the range coincides for 
the most part with the range of the archaic pottery art. 

Local Developments of Archaic Art. We have 
now examined the status of this earliest pottery in 
Mexico and Central America and discussed the problem 
of its distribution into South America. Let us next turn 
our attention to some of the developments that took 
place when this art was locally permitted to work out 
its higher destinies. The sudden rise of the superior 
culture of the Mayas snuffed it out untimely in southern 
Mexico, but in other and more distant regions the in- 
fluence of the ascendant Mayan civilization was less 
strongly felt and was not sufficient to more than modify 
the original character of the archaic art. In other 
words, where the archaic art was given a few extra cen- 
turies to run it arrived at superior results. 




Plate X. Distribution of the Archaic Culture. The areas in solid 
black show the distribution of figurines of the archaic type; the areas 
in dots show the probable extension of potterj^ on the Archaic Horizon; 
the dotted lines give the ultimate extension of pottery. 



61 




Plate XI. Distribution of Agriculture in the New World. The dot- 
ted line gives the limits of pottery; solid black, agriculture in arid 
regions of considerable altitude, mostly with irrigation; dotted areas, 
agriculture under humid lowland conditions; lined area, agriculture 
under temperate conditions. 

62 



THE AECIIAIC HORIZON 63 

It is probable that the unusually elaborate effigies 
from western Mexico are somewhat later in date than 
the comparatively simple figurines of central Mexico. 
But still better examples of local development out of 
the archaic are to be found in the Isthmian area. Here 
the most ancient remains (according to types, since 
actual stratigraphy has not yet been determined) appear 
to be common in the arid regions and rare in the humid 
regions. But in certain humid regions, such as the 
Peninsula of Nicoya on the Pacific side of Costa Rica 
and the Mercedes district on the Atlantic side, are found 
modified types of clay figurines and stone carvings that 
still retain many archaic features. Now, there is little 
doubt that in general these figurines and sculptures be- 
long to an horizon above that of the truly archaic. The 
associated decorative art in painting is of a higher type 
than that of the Archaic Period in the north and shows 
in fact many points of contact with the painted designs 
on the vessels of the Mayan civilization. 

Perhaps the most interesting type of figurine (found 
in both the localities named above, but more common in 
the west) represents a nude female in a sitting pose. 
The actual body treatment is very like that of the 
archaic seated females from Salvador and Mexico, but 
the surface is painted over with designs in glossy black 
upon dark and brilliant red. The paints as well as the 
designs are peculiar and it is possible to group the 
figurines with vases in. which the same pigments and 
decorations are used. Now, these associated vases are 
characteristically of the cylindrical shape that was in 
great vogue among the Mayas in post-archaic times and 
the designs painted upon these vases also have many 
features in common with Mayan work. 

Likewise when we pass to the Chiriqui region in 
western Panama we find the seated female to be com- 



64 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

mon. Again, the associated designs are complicated and 
developed far beyond the point reached in the truly 
archaic of the northern stratigraphic series. The 
figurines belong to what has been called "alligator 
ware," because the alligator or crocodile is the subject 
of many of the designs. A safer classification is made 
on the basis of the clay and pigments. The archaic 
technique is also presented in much of the relief decora- 
tion of still other kinds of pottery from the Isthmian 
area. In the beautiful yellow. ware of Chiriqui small 
human figures in the ancient style serve to decorate 
handles, knobs, and legs. 

In stone art as well as in pottery there are local devel- 
opments out of the archaic mode in Costa Rica and 
Panama. Crude figures with the parts carved in low- 
relief around oval boulders seem to give away to more 
conventionalized sculptures made on slabs of sandstone. 
For this second type the limbs are partly freed from 
the torso, while in still later sculptures they are freed 
entirely. 

The ancient gold work of Costa Rica and Panama also 
reflects the technique of archaic art although most of it, 
to judge by the religious significance of many of the sub- 
jects and designs,, was made long after the Archaic 
Period. Just as the pottery figurines were built up by 
the addition of ribbons and buttons of clay to a general- 
ized form so the patterns for gold castings were made by 
adding details in rolled wax or resin to a simple under- 
lying form of the same material. This art will be dis- 
cussed more fully in another place, the mention here 
being made simply to emphasize the general connection 
between the art of the Archaic Period and that of later 
periods. 

Summary. In concluding this section let us sum 
up the general facts of ancient American history as 



THE ARCHAIC HORIZON 65 

these appear in relation to the archaeological evidences 
of the archaic horizon. 
I. Pre-Archaic Horizon. 

The peopling of the New World from Asia 
by tribes on the nomadic plane of culture. 
II. The Archaic Horizon. 

Invention and primary dissemination of agri- 
culture, together with pottery making and loom 
weaving. Homogeneous culture with unde- 
veloped religion and unsymbohc art. Practi- 
cally limited to arid tropics. 
III. Post Archaic Horizon. 

Specialized cultures in North, Central, and 
South America dependent upon agriculture. 
Strong local developments in esthetic arts, re- 
ligious ideas, and social institutions. Agricul- 
ture extended to humid tropical and temperate 
regions. 
We will now make an effort to analyze still further the 
historical levels in the Post Archaic Horizon. 



Chapter II 
THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 

THE wonderful culture of the Mayan Indians to 
which we will now turn our attention was devel- 
oped in the humid lowlands of Central America 
and especially in the Yucatan peninsula. Artists are 
everywhere of the opinion that the sculptures and other 
products of the Mayas deserve to rank among the high- 
est art products of the world, and astronomers are 
amazed at the progress made by this people in the meas- 
uring of time by the observed movements of the 
heavenly bodies. Moreover, they invented a remark- 
able system of hieroglyphic writing by which they were 
able to record facts and events and they built great 
cities of stone that attest a degree of wealth and 
splendor beyond anything seen elsewhere in the New 
World. 

The Mayan culture was made possible by the agri- 
cultural conquest of the rich lowlands where the exuber- 
ance of nature can only be held in check by organized 
effort. On the highlands the preparation of the land 
is comparatively easy, owing to scanty natural vegeta- 
tion and a control vested in irrigation. On the lowlands, 
however, great trees have to be felled and fast-growing 
bushes kept down by untiring energy. But when 
nature is truly tamed she returns recompense many 
fold to the daring farmer. Moreover, there is reason 
to believe that the removal of the forest cover over large 
areas affects favorably the conditions of life which under 
a canopy of leaves are hard indeed. 

The principal crops of the Mayas were probably much 
the same as on the highlands, with maize as the great 
staple. Varieties favorable to a humid environment 




Plate XIII. {a) View of the Plaza at Copan from the North- 
western Corner. This view shows the monuments in position and 
the steps which may have served as seats; (b) View Acro.ss the 
Artificial Acropolis at Copan showing a Sunken Court and the 
Bases of Two Temple Structures. Photographs by Peabody 
Museum Expedition. 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 69 

had doubtless been developed from the highland stock 
by selective breeding as agriculture worked its way 
down into the lowlands. Archaic art appears along 
the edges of the Mayan area in the state of Vera Cruz, 
Mexico, and in the Uloa Valley, Honduras. In both 
these regions are also found clay figurines that mark the 
transition in style between the archaic and the Mayan 
as well as finished examples of the latter. There can be 
no doubt, then, that the archaic art of Mexico marks an 
earlier horizon than the Mayan. Whether or not it was 
once laid entirely across the Mayan area cannot be 
decided on present data but it seems unlikely. We have 
already seen that this first art was distributed primarily 
across arid and open territory. 

With their calendrical system already in working 
order the Mayas appear on the threshold of history 
about the beginning of the Christian Era according to a 
correlation wdth European chronology that will be ex- 
plained later. The first great cities were Tikal in 
northern Guatemala and Copan in western Honduras, 
both of which had a long and glorious existence. Many 
others sprang into prominence at a somewhat later date ; 
for example, Palenque, Yaxchilan or Menche, Piedras 
Negras, Seibal, Naranjo, and Quirigua. The most 
brilliant period was from 300 to 600 A. D., after which 
all these cities appear to have been abandoned to the 
forest that soon closed over them. The population 
moved to northern Yucatan, where it no longer reacted 
strongly upon the other nations of Central America 
and where it enjoyed a second period of brilliancy 
several hundred years later. 

Architecture. The idea of a civic center is ad- 
mirably illustrated in Mayan cities, particularly those 
of the first brilliant period. The principal structures 



70 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



are built around courts or plazas and there is usually 
an artificial acropolis which is a great terraced mound 
serving as a common base or platform from which the 
individual pyramidal bases of several temples rise. At 
some sites this acropolis is a natural hill which has been 
trimmed down or added to, but at other sites it is 
entirely artificial. At Copan there is an especially fine 




Fig. 19. Groundplans of Yaxchilan Temples: (a) Structure 42; 
(b) Structure 23. 

example of artificial platform mound rising from one 
end of the Great Plaza and affording space for several 
temples as well as for sunken courts with stepped sides 
that may have been theatres. The river washing 
against one side of this great mound has removed per- 
haps a third of it and made a vertical section that shows 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 71 

the method of construction. It is apparent that the 
mound was enlarged and old walls and floors buried. 

Mayan buildings are of two principal kinds. One is 
a temple pure and simple and the other has been called 
a palace. The temple is a rectangular structure crown- 
ing a rather high pyramid that rises in several steps or 
terraces. As a rule the temple has a single front with 
one or more doorways and is approached by a broad 
stairway. The pyramid is ordinarily a solid mass of 
rubble and earth faced with cement or cut stone and 
rarely contains compartments. Some temples have 
but a single chamber while others have two or more 
chambers, the central or innermost one being specially 
developed into a sanctuary. The so-called palaces are 
clusters of rooms on low and often irregular platforms. 
These palaces may have been habitations of the priests 
and nobility. The common people doubtless lived in 
palm-thatched huts similar to those used today in the 
same region. 

The typical Mayan construction is a faced concrete. 
The limestone, which abounds in nearly all parts of the 
Mayan area, w^as burned into lime. This was then 
slaked to make mortar and applied to a mass of broken 
limestone. The facing stones were smoothed on the 
outside and left rough hewn and pointed on the inside. 
It is likely that these facing stones were held in place 
between forms and the lime, mortar and rubble filled in 
between. The resulting wall was essentially mono- 
lithic. The rooms of Mayan buildings are characteris- 
tically vaulted but the roof is not a true arch with a 
keystone. The vault, like the walls, is a solid mass of 
concrete that grips the cut stone veneer and that must 
have been held in place by a false work form while it was 
hardening. The so-called corbelled arch of overstepping 
stones was doubtless known to the Mayan builders but 




'u. << 

^ 3 

_• -a 

o 5 



_o 0) 









« dJ 






o 
o 



W i 



3 






> 







Plate XV. A Sealed Portal Vault in the House of the Governor 
at Uxmal. The veneer character of the cut stone comes out clearly. 
Peabody Museum photograph. 



73 



74 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



was little used. Taking the single rectangular room as 
the unit of construction the width was limited to the 
span of the vault, which seldom exceeded twelve feet, 
while the length was indeterminate. 

The first variation from the temple with one rectan- 
gular room was the two-roomed structure with one 
chamber directly behind the other. In this case there 
were two vaulted compartments separated from each 




Fig. 20. Cross-section of Typical M.ayan Temple in Northern 
Yucatan: a, upper cornice; b, medial cornice; c, upper zone; d, lower 
zone; e, wooden lintels; /, exterior doorway; g, interior doorway; h, 
offset at spring of vault; i, cap stone. 



other by a common supporting wall pierced by one or 
more doorways. The inner room was naturally more 
dimly lighted than the other one and as a result w^as 
modified into a sanctuary, or holy of holies, enhanced by 
sculptures and paintings, while the outer room devel- 
oped gradually into a portico. The outer wall was cut 



f- 



l^»»»~. 





Plate XVI. (a) Model of the Temple of the Cross designed to 
show the Construction. The building has three entrances separated 
by piers. The middle partition is thickened to support the weight of 
the roof comb which is a trellis designed to carry stucco decora- 
tion. The sanctuary is a miniature temple in the inner chamber. 
The walls are built of slabs of limestone set in lime cement; (6) 
Detail of Frieze on the Temple of the Cross. The upper band is 
the sky with stars and planets. A reptilian monster occupies the 
main panel with human figures as supplementary decorations upon 
his legs. 



75 



76 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

by doorways till only pier-like sections remained, and 
finally these piers were replaced by square or round 
columns. The development of the Mayan temple may 
be traced through a thousand years of change and 
adjustment. 

Much attention was paid by Mayan builders to the 
question of stability which was accomplished directly 
by keeping the center of gravity of the principal masses 
within the supporting walls rather than by the use of 
binding stones. The cross-section of a two-roomed 
temple of late date will illustrate how this was done. 
There are three principal masses, one over the front 
wall, one over the medial partition, and one over the 
back wall. The roof where these sections join is of no 
great thickness. The central mass is symmetrical and, 
if the mortar has the proper cohesiveness, very stable. 
For the front and back masses the projection of the 
upper or frieze zone tends to counterbalance the over- 
hang of half the vault. In the earlier temples the upper 
zone of the fagade often slopes backward so that the 
balance is not so perfect. 

So far we have given brief space to the question of 
elevations. Taken vertically there are three parts to 
the Mayan building: first, the substructure or pyra- 
midal base; second, the structure proper; third, the 
superstructure. In the case of temples the structure 
proper is one story in height. Two and three stories 
are rather common in palaces, but the upper stories are 
in most cases built directly over a solid core and not 
over the rooms of the lower story. The upper stories, 
therefore, recede, so that the building presents a ter- 
raced or pyramidal profile. One building at Tikal is 
five stories in height, in three receding planes, the three 
uppermost stories being one above the other. In a 
tower at Palenque we have an example of four stories 
but this is unusual. 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 77 

On top of the building proper, especially if it is a 
temple, we frequently find a superstructure. This is a 
sort of crest, or roof wall, usually pierced by windows. 
When this wall rises from the center line of the roof it is 
called a roof comb or roof crest, and when it rises from 
the front wall it is called a flying fagade. The highest 
temples in the Mayan area are those of Tikal that 
attain a total height of about 175 feet, counting pyra- 
mid and superstructure. 

Massive Sculptural Art. The decoration of 
Mayan buildings may be considered under three heads : 
first, interior decoration; second, fagade decoration; 
third, supplementary monuments. In many temples at 
Yaxchilan, Tikal, etc., are found splendidly sculptured 
lintels of stone or wood. At Copan we see wall sculp- 
tures that adorn the entrance to the sanctuary and at 
Palenque finely sculptured tablets let into the rear wall 
of the sanctuary. Elsewhere are occasional examples 
of mural paintings, sculptured door jambs, decorated 
interior steps, etc. 

The fagade decorations of the earlier Mayan struc- 
tures are freer and more realistic than those of the later 
buildings. In many cases they consist of figures of men, 
serpents, etc., modeled in stucco or built up out of 
several nicely fitted blocks of stone. Grotesque faces 
also occur. In the later styles, decoration consists 
largely of "mask panels," which are grotesque front 
view faces arranged to fill rectangular panels, but there 
is an increasing amount of purely geometric ornament. 
The masked panels represent in most instances a highly 
elaborated serpent's face which sometimes carries the 
special markings of one of the greater gods. These panels, 
considered historically, pass through some interesting 
developments. Angular representations of serpent heads 
in profile are sometimes used at the sides of doorways. 



78 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



The supplementary monuments are stelse and altars. 
These are monolithic sculptures that are often set up 
in definite relation to a building either on the terraces 
or at the foot of the stairway. The stelae are great 
plinths or slabs of stone carved on one or more sides 
with the figures of priests and warriors loaded down 
with religious symbols. The altars are small stones 
usually placed in front of the stelae. Many stelae and 
altars are set up in plazas and have no definite archi- 
tectural quality. 




Fie;. 21. Mask Panel over Doorway at Xkichniook. Yucatan. 

Minor Arts. While the richly ornamented temples 
and the great monoliths attract first attention as works 
of art, the humbler products of the potter, the weaver, 
and the lapidary also attained to grace and dignity. 

The Mayas were expert potters and employed a 
variety of technical processes in the decoration of their 
wares, such as painting, modeling, engraving, and 
stamping. We can only take time to examine a few 
examples of the best works, leaving the commoner 
products practically undescribed. Suffice it to say, 
that tripod dishes were much used, as well as bowls, 
bottle-necked vessels, and cylindrical vases, and that 





Plate XVII. (a) Realistic Designs on Vases from Chama, Guate- 
mala, representing the Best Mayan Period in Pottery; {b) The 
Quetzal as represented on a Painted Cylindrical Vase from Copan. 
Bands of Hieroglyphs are commonly found on Mayan Pottery. 

79 



80 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

the common decorative use of hieroglyphs serves to 
mark off Mayan pottery from that of other Central 
American peoples. The realistic designs are drawn in 
accordance with the highest principles of decorative 
art. Serpents, monkeys, jaguars, various birds, as well 
as priests and supernatural beings, are used as subjects 
for pottery embellishment. Geometric decoration is 
also much used. 

The polychrome pottery is rare and exceptionally 
beautiful, with designs relating to religious subjects. 
The background color of these cylindrical vases is 
usually orange or yellow, the designs are outlined in 
black, and the details filled in with delicate washes of 
red, brown, white, etc. The surface bears a high 
polish made by rubbing. Plate XVII reproduces the de- 
sign units on two vases from Chama, Guatemala. The 
first example pictures a seated man with a widespread- 
ing headdress made of two conventional serpent heads 
from the ends of which issue the plumes of the quetzal. 
The hieroglyphs are Mayan day signs — Ben and Imix 
on the left and Kan and Caban on the right. The 
second example presents a god before an altar. This 
god has the face of an old man and his body is attached 
to a spiral shell. This divinity has been called the Old 
Man God. He was probably associated with the end 
of the year. 

In the next illustration an engraved design on a bowl 
from northern Yucatan is given. A jaguar attired in 
the dress of man is seated in a wreathe of water lilies. 
After the vessel had been formed, but before it had been 
fired, this design was made by cutting away the back- 
ground and incising finer details on the original surfaces. 
Other designs in relief were obtained by direct modeling 
or by stamping. The stamps were moulds or negatives 
made from bas-relief patterns. 




Fig. 22. Design on Engraved Pot representing a Tiger seated in 
a Wreathe of Water Lilies. Northern Yucatan, 




Fig. 23. Painted Design on Cylindrical Bowl showing Herpent issu- 
ing from a Shell. Salvador. 

81 



82 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



The textile arts of the ancient Mayas can be recovered 
in part from a study of the monuments since the designs 
on man}^ garments are reproduced in deUcate rehef. 
The designs are mostly all-over geometric patterns, 
but borders reproducing the typical ''celestial band," 
a line of astronomical symbols, are also seen. The 
techniques of brocade and lace were understood by the 
ancient weavers. In the minor textile art of basketry 
the products must also have ranked high; a typical 
basket pictured on a lintel is given in Fig. 24-. 




Fig. 24. Mayan Basket repivsented in Stone Sculpture. 



Jade and other semi-precious stones were carved by 
the Mayas into beautiful and fantastic shapes. There 
was a considerable use of mosaic veneer on masks and 
other ceremonial objects. Metal was probably unknown 
during the first centuries of Mayan florescence, later it 
was rare and could not be used for tools, but the working 
of gold and copper in the manufacture of ornaments was 
on a high plane. 

Having now passed in brief review the objective side 
of Mayan remains, let us turn our attention to the sub- 
jective. 

The Serpent in Mayan Art. Mayan art is 
strange and unintelligible at first sight, but after care- 
ful study many wonderful qualities appear in it. In 
the knowledge of foreshortening and composition, the 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 



83 



Mayas were superior to the Egyptians and Assyrians. 
They could draw the human body in pure profile and in 
free and graceful attitudes and they could compose 
several figures in a rectangular panel so that the result 
satisfies the eye of a modern artist. 

But, unfortunately for our fuller understanding, the 
human form had only a minor interest because the gods 
were not in the image of man and the art was essentially 




Fig. 25. Typical Elaborated Serpents of the Mayas. The plumed 
serpent is from Chichen Itza and the one with a human head in its 
mouth from Yaxchilan. In this example the writhing movements of 
the serpent's tail are probably intended by the added scrolls. 

religious. The gods were at best half human and half 
animal with grotesque elaborations. The high esthetic 
qualities were therefore wasted on subjects that appear 
trivial to many of us. But, as we break away more and 
more from the shackles of our own artistic conventions, 
we shall be able to appreciate the many beauties of 
ancient American sculpture. 



Fig. 26. Conventional Serpent of the Mayas used for Decorative 
Purposes: a, body; b, ventral scale; c, dorsal scale; d, nose; e, nose- 
plug; /, incisor tooth; g, molar tooth; h, jaw; i, eye; j, supraorbital 
plate; k, earplug; I, ear pendant; m, curled fang; n, tongue; o, lower 
jaw; p, beard; q, incisor tooth. 



84 



I 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 85 

The serpent motive 'controlled the character of 
Mayan art and was of first importance in all subse- 
quent arts in Central America and Mexico. The ser- 
pent was seldom represented realistically, and yet we 
may safely infer that the rattlesnake was the prevaihng 
model. Parts of other creatures were added to the 
serpent's body, such as the plumes of the trogon or 
quetzal, the teeth of the jaguar, and the ornaments of 
man. The serpent was idealized and the lines character- 
istic of it entered into the delineation of many subjects 
distinct from the serpent itself. Scrolls and other 
sinuous details were attached to the serpent's body and 
human ornaments such as earplugs, noseplugs, and even 
headdresses were added to its head. Finally, a human 
head was placed in the distended jaws. The Mayas 
may have intended to express the essential human in- 
telligence of the serpent in this fashion. The serpent 
with a human head in its mouth doubtless belongs in the 
same category as the partly humanized gods of Egypt, 
Assyria, and India. It illustrates the partial assump- 
tion of human form by a beast divinity. The features 
combined are so peculiar and unnatural that the in- 
fluence of Mayan art can be traced far and wide through 
Central America and Mexico by comparative study of 
the serpent motive. 

A typical serpent head in profile (with the human 
head omitted) as developed by the Mayas for decora- 
tive purposes is reproduced in Fig. 26 with the parts 
lettered and named. It will be noted that the lines of 
interest in this design are either vertical or horizontal, 
although the parts themselves have sinuous outlines. 
Two features of the typical serpent's body enter widely 
into the enrichment of all kinds of subjects. One of 
these is the double outline which is derived from the 
line paralleling the base of the serpent's body and serv- 



86 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

ing to mark off the belly region. The second feature 
is the small circle applied in bead-like rows to represent 
scales. The profile serpent head is also seen in scrolls 
and frets that elaborate many details of dress worn by 
the human beings carved on the monuments. The 
front view of the serpent's head is usually extended to 





9 

Fig. 27. Upper Part of Serpent Head made into a Fret Orna- 
ment; a, Ixkim; b, Quirigua; c, d, g, Copan; e, Naranjo; /, Seibal. 

fill an oblong panel and is often used to decorate the base 
of a monument or the fagade of a building. There are 
several monsters closely connected with the serpent 
that will be discussed as the description proceeds. 

The Human Figure. The human beings pictured 
on Mayan monuments are captives, rulers, and priests 
or worshippers. The captives are poor groveling crea- 
tures, bound by rope, held by the hair or crushed under 
foot to fill a rectangular space over which the conqueror 
stands. The rulers and priests are hard to distinguish 
from each other, perhaps because the government was 
largely theocratic and the ruler was looked upon as the 
spokesman of divinity. The spear and shield of war 
served to mark off certain human beings from others 
who carry religious objects such as the Ceremonial Bar 
and the Manikin Scepter. 

Elaborate thrones on several monuments are 
canopied over by the arched body of the Two-headed 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 87 

Dragon that bears symbols of the planets. Over all is 
seen the great Serpent Bird with outstretched wings. 
Upon the throne is seated a human being who may 
safely be called a king and a line of footprints on the 
front of the throne may symbolize ascent. On other 
monuments the commanding personage wears the mask 
of a god and wields a club to subdue or scatters grain to 
placate. On the great majority of monuments the 
human beings, richly attired in ceremonial regalia and 
carrying a variety of objects, possibly present the great 
warriors and priests of the day. Many of the early 
-sculptures are stifT and formal, but in a number of in- 
stances the quality of actual portraiture is convincing. 

Design, Composition and Perspective. It is 

difficult to compare directly the graphic and plastic 
arts of different nations where the subject matter is 
diverse unless we compare them in accordance with 
absolute principles of design, composition, and perspec- 
tive drawing. The Mayas produced one of the few 
really great and coherent expressions of beauty so far 
given to the world and their influence in America was 
historically as important as was that of the Greeks 
in Europe. Set as we are in the matrix of our own 
religious and artistic conventions, we find it difficult to 
approach sympathetically beauty that is overcast with 
an incomprehensible religion. When we can bring our- 
selves to feel the serpent symbolism of the Mayan 
artists as we feel, for instance, the conventional halo 
that crowns the ideal head of Christ, then we shall be 
able to recognize the truly emotional qualities of Mayan 
sculptures. 

It is generally recognized that design to be successful 
must contain order of various sorts (in measurements, 
shapes, directions, tones, colors, etc.). In the simpler 
forms of decorative art the restrictions of technical 



88 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

process, as in basketry, may impose order, but in free- 
hand sculpture it must come from an educated sense of 
beauty involving selection and the reproduction of the 
finest qualities. Design at its highest is embodied in 
the Mayan hieroglyphs. Given spaces had to be filled 
with given symbols and the results attained were uni- 
formly excellent. Although the influence of the ser- 




Fig. 28. Sculpture on Front of Lintel at Yaxchilan showing Man 
holding Two-Headed Serpent with a Grotesque God's Head in each ol' 
its'Mouths. 





Fig. 29. Types of Human Heads on the Lintels of Yaxchilan. 



pent led to the great use of tapering flame-like masses 
in nearly all Mayan designs, still dominant vertical 
and horizontal lines of interest were maintained. 

The panel and lintel sculptures show composition 
achieved by simple and subtle methods. The sweeping 
plumes of headdresses were skilfully used to fill in 
corners, while blocks of glyphs were placed in open 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 



89 



spaces that might otherwise distract the attention. 
Many compositions appear overcrowded to us, but this 
fault decreases with knowledge of the subject matter. 




Fig. 30. Sculpture on Upper Part of Stela 11, Seibal. The man wears 
a mask of turquoise inlay and an elaborate headdress. 

Also, the Mayas appear to have painted their sculp- 
tures so that the details were emphasized by color 
contrast. 

In perspective as applied to the human figure the 
Mayas were far ahead of the Egyptians and Assyrians, 
since they could draw the body in front view and pure 




Plate XVIII. Stela li:!, Piedras Negras. 'i'his shattered 
monument is one of the finest examples of Mayan Sculp- 
ture, showing a fine sense of composition and a consider- 
able knowledge of perspective. 
90 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 



91 



profile without the distortions seen in the Old World. 
They were even able to make graceful approximations of 
a three-quarters view, as may be seen in Plate XVIII, 
where the raising of the nearer shoulder has a distinct 
perspective value. 

• The Mayan Pantheon. We have seen that during 
the earliest culture of Mexico and Central America 
there were no figurines of individualized gods, simply 
straightforward representations of human beings and 
animals. With the Mayan culture, however, we enter 
upon an epoch of rich religious symbolism. The ser- 





Fig. 31. The Ceremonial Bar. A Two-Headed Serpent held in the 
Arms of Human Beings on Stelas: a, Stela P, Copan; h, Stela N, Copan. 



pent, highly conventionalized as we have just seen, 
and variously combined with elements taken from 
the quetzal, the jaguar, and even from man himself, 
appears as a general indication of divinity. The 
Ceremonial Bar, essentially a two-headed serpent 
carrying in its mouths the heads of an important god, 
is one of the earliest religious objects. The heads that 
appear in the mouths are usually those of a Roman- 
nosed or of a Long-nosed god. Other representations of 
divinities are combined with the Two-headed Dragon 



92 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



that also has reptihan characters ; still others appear as 
headdresses and masks on human figures. Strange to 
say, the gods are supplementary to the human figures on 
all the early sculptures. In the codices, 
however, they are represented apart 
from man, as engaged in various activi- 
ties and contests. Mayan religion was 
clearly organized on a dualistic basis. 
The powers for good are in a constant 
struggle with the powers for evil and 
most of the benevolent divinities have 
malevolent duplicates. In actual form 
the gods are partly human, but ordinarily 
the determining features are grotesque 
variations from the human face and fig- 
ure. While beast associations are some- 
times discernible, they are rarely con- 
Fie;. 32. The trolling. Sometimes, however, beast 
Manikin Seep- gods are represented in unmistakable 
ter, a Grotesque fashion, good examples being the jaguar, 
Figure with one ^^le bat, and the moan bird. All of these 

Leg modified in- i i i ] • i • i u j 

, '' ., , have human bodies and animal heads. 

to a herpent. 





Fig. 33. The Two-Headed Dragon, a Monster that passes through 
many Forms in Mayan Sculpture. Copan. 



The head position in the Mayan pantheon may with 
some assurance be given to a god who has been called 
the Roman-nosed god and who is probably to be identi- 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 93 

fied with Itzamna. According to Spanish writers 
Itzamna was regarded by the Mayas as the creator and 
father of all, the inventor of writing, the founder of the 
Mayan civilization, and the god of light and life. This 
Zeus of the Mayas is represented in the form of an old 
man with a high forehead, a strongly aquiline nose, and 
a distended mouth, toothless or with a single enlarged 
tooth in front. On the ancient monuments he is fre- 
quently seen in the mouths of the Ceremonial Bar and 
also in association with the sun, moon, and the planet 
Venus. In the codices he is shown as a protector of the 
" Maize God and in other acts beneficial to man. There 
is, however, a malevolent aspect of this god or possibly 
another being who imitates his features but not his 
qualities. This being may be an old woman goddess 
who wears a serpent headdress and who is associated 
with destructive floods, the very opposite of life-giving 
sunshine. 

Of almost equal importance to the Roman-nosed god 
is a god whose face is a more or less humanized serpent. 
This god has been identified with Kukulcan, the Plumed 
Serpent, and the Mayan equivalent of the Aztecan 
Quetzalcoatl. On the early monuments this god is 
shown in connection with the Ceremonial Bar. He also 
appears at a somewhat later date as the Manikin 
Scepter, an object in the form of a manikin that is held 
out by a leg modified into a serpent's body. Since a 
celt is usually worn in the forehead of the manikin it has 
been suggested that this curious object represents a 
ceremonial battle-ax. The face of the Long-nosed god 
is frequently worn by high priests and rulers either as a 
headdress or, more rarely, as a mask. It is possible that 
this divinity was regarded as primarily a war god but in 
the codices he is evidently a universal deity of varied 
powers. Especially he is shown in connection with 



94 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



water and maize and it seems likely that his principal 
function was to cause life-giving rain. A malevolent 
variant of the Long-nosed god has a bare bone for the 
lower jaw, a sun symbol on his forehead, and a head- 
dress consisting of three other symbols. This head 
is associated with the Two-headed Dragon possibly 
as a god of death-dealing drought. 






Fig. 34. Gods in the Dresden Codex: God B, the Long-Nosed 
God of Rain; God A, the Death God; God G, the Sun God. 

Ahpuch, the Lord of Death, was the principal malevo- 
lent god. His body as figured in the codices is a strange 
compound of skeletal and full-fleshed parts. His head 
is a skull except for the normal ears. His spinal column 
is usually bare and sometimes the ribs as well, but the 
arms and legs are often covered with flesh. As added 
symbols black spots and dotted lines are sometimes 
drawn upon his body and a curious device like a per- 
centage sign upon his cheek. The Death God in com- 
plete form is rarely shown in the earlier sculptures, 
although grinning skulls and interlacing bones occur as 
temple decorations. As has already been pointed out, 
Mayan religion was strongly dualistic and the evil 




Plate XIX. (a) Top of Stela 1 at Yaxchilan, dealing with the 
Heavens. The Sky God is seen in the center with the moon at the left 
and the sun at the right. Below these is the Two-Headed Dragon bear- 
ing planet signs and additional heads of the Sky God; (b) Analogous 
Detail of Stela 4, Yaxchilan. The moon is at the right and the sun at the 
left. The figure in the sun is male and that in the moon, female. The 
faces of the Sky God hang from the lower part of the Two-Headed 
Dragon, being attached to it by symbols of the planet Venus. 

95 



96 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

powers are usuall}^ to be identified by death symbols 
such as a bare bone for the lower jaw, or the per- 
centage symbol noted above on the cheek. Death 
heads of several kinds are frequent in the hieroglyphic 
inscriptions. 

The Maize God, figured so frequently on the ancient 
monuments and in the Mayan codices may be the same 
that in the time of the Conquest was called Yum Kaax, 
Lord of the Harvest. He is represented as a youth with 
a leafy headdress that is possibly meant to represent an 
opening ear of maize. The kan sign, a grain of maize, 
is constantly associated with him. He appears to be at 
the mercy of the evil deities when not protected by the 
good ones. 

Space considerations forbid a further study of Mayan 
gods. Suffice it to say that several other divinities are 
shown in the sculptures and codices including a some- 
what youthful appearing war god, as well as a more 
mature and grotesque war god called Ek Ahau, the 
Black Captain. There is an old god with a shell 
attached to his body, a god with the face of a monkey 
who is associated with the north star, a god in the form 
of a frog and another in the form of a bat. In the 
Spanish accounts we can also glean scanty information 
concerning Ixchel, Goddess of the Rainbow and mate of 
Itzamna, Ixtubtun patroness of jade carvers, Ixchebel- 
yax, patroness of the art of weaving and decorating 
cloth, etc. 

The Mayan Time Counts. The passage of time, 
seen in finer and finer degree in the course of human 
life, the succession of summer and winter, the waxing 
and waning moons, the alternation of day and night, 
the upward and downward sloping of the sun and the 
swinging dial of the stars, is a phenomenon that no 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 97 

human group has failed to notice. Longer periods than 
those included within the memory of the oldest men 
(presenting an imperfect reflection of the memory of 
men still older) are found only in those favored centers 
where a serviceable system of counting has been de- 
veloped. Mythology has a content of history but 
hardly of chronology. Tradition, when organized by 
the priesthood, may be reasonably dependable for per- 
haps two hundred years. 

The year and the month are the basis of all primitive 
time systems, the former depending on the recurring 
-seasons, the latter on recurring moons. Both of these 
are expressed in days. Unfortunately, the day is not 
contained evenly in either the month or the year, nor 
do these larger time measures show any simple relation 
to each other as regards length. The history of the 
calendar is one of compromise and correction. 

The Mayan calendars were made possible by: first, 
the knowledge of astronomical time periods; second, the 
possession of a suitable nota,tion system; third, the dis- 
covery of a permutation system of names and numbers. 

Elements of the Day Count. There is reason to 
believe that the Mayas had first a lunar-solar calendar of 
twelve months of thirty days each, making a year of 
360 days, and that they reduced the number of days in 
the formal month to 20 and raised the number of months 
in the year from 12 to 18. These changes permitted a 
close adjustment of the units of time with their 
vigesimal system of counting. With a truer knowledge 
of the length of the year an extra five day month was 
added to make a year of 365 days. Beyond this the 
**leap year" error was calculated but not interpolated. 
As proof that the lunar month of thirty days preceded 
the formal month of twenty days, it need only be 
pointed out that the name for this period, uinal, seems 



98 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



to be connected with the name for moon, u, and that the 
hieroglyph for moon has the value, twenty, in the 
inscriptions and ancient books. 

Before entering into a fuller discussion of the astro- 
nomical and notational facts let us turn for a moment 
to the third fact, the permutation system. The origin 
of the cycle' known by the Mayan name tzolkin and the 




Fig. 35. The Twenty Day Signs. The first example in each 
case is taken from the inscriptions and the second from the codices. 

Aztecan name tonalamatl, book of the days, has never 
been satisfactorily explained. It is a permutation 
system with two factors, 13 and 20. The former is a 
series of numbers (1-13) and the latter a series of twenty 
names as follows: — 



1. 


Imix 


6. 


Cimi 


11. 


Chuen 


16. 


Cib 


2. 


Ik 


7. 


Manik 


12. 


Eb 


17. 


Caban 


3. 


Akbal 


8. 


Lamat 


13. 


Ben 


18. 


Eznab 


4. 


Kan 


9. 


Muluc 


14. 


Ix 


19. 


Caiiac 


5. 


Chicchan 


10. 


Oc 


1.5. 


Men 


20. 


Ahau 



'The word cycle is applied in this book to re-entering series, or wheels, 
of days. These all contain the tzolkin or ionalnmatl without a remainder. 
The word period is applied to fixed numbers that do not contain the 
tonalamatl. 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 



99 



These two series revolve upon each other Hke two 
wheels, one with thirteen and the other with twenty 
cogs. The smaller wheel of numbers makes twenty 
revolutions while the larger wheel of days is making 
thirteen revolutions, and after this the number cog and 
name cog w^th which the experiment began are again in 
combination. Thus, a day with the same number and 
the same name recurs every 13 X20 or 260 days. 

PERMUTATION TABLE 





1 


'2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


1 


1 Imix 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


2 Ik 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8: 2 


3 Akbal 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


4 Kan 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


5 Chicchan 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


6 Cimi 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


7 Manik 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


8 Lamat 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


9 Muluc '.. 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


■7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


10 Oc 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


11 Chuen 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


12 Eb 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


13 Pen ■.. 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


14 ]x 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


15 Men 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


16 Cib 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


17 Caban. 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


18 Eznab. 


5 


12 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


19 Cauac 


6 


13 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12 


6 


20 Ahau . 


7 


1 


8 


2 


9 


3 


10 


4 


11 


5 


12! 6 


13 


7 



This 260 day cycle corresponds to no natural time 
period and is an invention pure and simple. It is the 
most fundamental feature of the Mayan time count and 
of the time counts of other nations in Mexico and 
Central America. We may perhaps assume that the 
twenty names were originally those of the twenty days 



100 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



in the modified lunar months. But the thirteen num- 
bers have no recognized prototype. The formal book 
of days generally was considered to begin with 1 Imix for 
the Mayas and with a corresponding day for the other 
Mexican and Central American nations. But it can 
be made to begin anywhere and proceed to an equiva- 
lent station that is always 260 days removed. 

The Conventional Year. It has been stated that 
the Mayas arrived at a conventional 365 day year made 
up of eighteen months of twenty days each plus a short 




Eayab Camlin Uayeb Zcm 

Fig. 36. The Nineteen Month Signs of the Mayan Year. The first 
example in each case is taken from the inscriptions and the second from 
the codices. The last details are signs for zero. 

period of five days that fell after the eighteen regular 
months had been counted. The Mayan month names 
are as follows : — 



1. 


Pop 


7. 


Yaxkin 


13. 


mJ 


2. 


Uo 


8. 


Mol 


14. 


Kankin 


3. 


Zip 


9. 


Chen 


15. 


Muan 


4. 


Zotz 


10. 


Yax 


16. 


Pax 


5. 


Tzec 


11. 


Zac 


17. 


Kayab 


6. 


Xul 


12. 


Ceh 


18. 


Cumhu 



19. Uayeb (five additional days) 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 101 

Since there are twenty days or positions in the month 
and likewise twenty distinct day names in the tzolkin, 
falling in regular order, it follows that each day would 
always occupy the same month position were it not for 
the offset at the end of each year caused by the short 
Uayeb period. As it is, any day name occupies the 
same month position during the course of an entire 
year and a position five days in advance during the 
course of the following year. Since five is contained four 
times in twenty there can be only four shifts, the fifth 
year showing the same arrangement as the first. The 
"following table gives the month positions of each day 
name during the changes of four consecutive years as 
these are recorded in the ancient inscriptions. 

Ik, Manik, Eb, Caban 0, 5, 10, 15 

Akbal, Lamat, Ben, Eznab 1, 6, 11, 16 

Kan, Muluc, Ix, Cauac 2, 7, 12, 17 

Chicchan, Oc, Men, Ahau 3, 8, 13, 18 

Imix, Cimi, Chuen, Cib 4, 9, 14, 19 

Thus Ik occupies position the first year, 5, the second 
year, 10 the third, 15 the fourth, and the fifth. While 
Manik that belongs to the same set has position 5 the 
first year, 10 the second, etc. It will be noted that Imix, 
the first day of the formal permutation of the tzolkin is 
never the first day of a month. 

The Calendar Round. But this assignment of 
particular day names to particular places in the month 
does not close the problem. Each day name is asso- 
ciated in the tzolkin, or permutation, with a day number. 
While it is true that each day can occupy only four 
month positions in as many years, it must be remem- 
bered that the day numbers associated with these 
names can run the whole gamut of 13 changes. Thus, 
although Ik must always occupy the fifth position in the 
months during a certain year, nevertheless it will have 



'/•;— 

^•^. 



It it;' ■ 



.-La 










Plate XX. Scheme of the Mayan Calendar as presented in the 
Codex Tro-Cortesianus. In the center is Itzamna, the God of the 
Sky, and his spouse, under what has been called the celestial tree. 
The band of hieroglyphs that frames in this picture contains the 
twenty day signs of the Mayan month. The figures on the out- 
side are arranged in four groups, according to the four directions of 
the compass. At the top or east we again see Itzamna and his 
mate. In the north, or right hand quarter, human sacrifice is 
shown and the Death God sits opposite the God of War. In the 
east and in the south are also shown pairs of divinities. A series of 
dots running from one day sign to another covers the tzolkin or 
260 day cycle of names and numbers. 



102 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 103 

numbers which fall in the sequence 1, 8, 2, 9, 3, 10, 4, 
11, 5, 12, 6, 13, 1, etc. The result of the added element 
in the permutation is that a particular day with a 
particular number can occupy a particular month posi- 
tion once every 13x4 or 52 years. In other words, the 
cycle of variations runs through the least common mul- 
tiple of 260 (the permutation) and 365 (the conven- 
tional year) or 18,980 days. This cycle is commonly 
known as the Calendar Round. 

A Mayan day fixed in a month has four parts to its 
name, thus, 11 Ahau 18 Mac. But after all this condi- 
tion of affairs is not very different from our own. We 
say Tuesday, July 4, a'nd we mean, ''Tuesday, the 
second day of the week, falls on the fourth day of 
the month of July." Similarly the Mayan date 11 
Ahau 18 Mac may be read. ''The day Ahau, bearing 
the index number 1 1 (or, being the eleventh day in the 
thirteen day week) is found in the 18th position in the 
month Mac." Were it not for leap year the European 
date given above would recur after seven years : as it is, 
the cycle is somewhat irregular and no actual use is 
made of it. So far we have considered two sorts of 
Mayan dates, first the tzolkin date, recurring every 
260 days, second the calendar round date recurring 
every 18,980 days. Before we can understand the most 
important dates of all, namely, those of the "Long 
Count," which record the total number of days since a 
beginning day called 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, located far in 
the past, we must direct our attention to the matter of 
numbers and notation. 

Mayan Numbers. The three most common 
numerical systems in use in the world are all derived 
from man's anatomy. The quinary system is based on 
counting the fingers of one hand, the decimal system on 



104 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

counting those of both hands and the vigesimal system 
which prevailed in Central America, is based on count- 
ing all the fingers and all the toes. The vigesimal 
system is seen in imperfect form in our count of scores, 
where seventy years are three score and ten. 

The Mayan name for one was hun: they had simple 
names to 9 and composite ones from 10 to 19, much 
as in English, and twenty was hun kal, one score. The 
ascending values in the vigesimal scale were as fol- 
lows : — 



Mayan Numbers 


Arabic Equivalents 


hun 


1 


20 hun = 1 kal 


20 


20 kal = 1 bak 


400 


20 bak = 1 pic 


8,000 


20 pic = 1 cabal 


160,000 


20 cabal = 1 kinchil 


3,200,000 


20 kinchil = 1 alau 


64,000,000 


20 alau = 1 hablat 


1,280,000,000 



They invented signs for zero and discovered the 
principle of ''local value" in the writing down of 
numbers centuries before these ideas (which are funda- 
mental to higher mathematics) were known in the Old 



• •• ^BH M^M ZSfSm SS ^SS 

J 2 5 6 d 10 16 

Fig. .37. Bar and Dot Numerals of the Mayas. 

World. The notation of numbers had its simpler and 
more complicated phase. In the simpler phase 1 was 
represented by a dot, 2 by two dots, 5 by a bar, 6 by a 
bar and dot, 15 by three bars, etc. The commonest sign 
for zero was a shell while a picture of the moon stood for 
twenty. In the more elaborate notation a series of 
twenty faces of gods represented the numerals from 
to 19. 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 105 

The straight vigesimal system was doubtless used by 
the Mayas in ordinary counting, but in counting time a 
very important change was introduced in the third 
position. Also the names were modified : hun was called 
kin which means sun or day. In the second position kal 
was called uinal which means month and 18 of these 
'were taken to form a tun, stone, which was the third 
unit. The tun then had a value of 18x20=360 days, 
making a conventional year about five and a quarter 
days less than a true year. Twenty tuns made a kal- 
tun or katun and above this period the numeral system 
proceeded as before and in the ascending values the 
names already given were merely combined with tun, 
if Gates is right in his clever suggestion. For years it 
has been customary to speak of the fifth period as cycle 
for want of a native term : this will now be called baktun. 
One haUatun, the highest period with a name, has the 
astonishing value of 460,800,000,000 days. However, 
the highest number which has come down to us records 
only 1,841,639,800 days, or about five million years. 
Needless to say it is not historical. 

In our decimal system the number 347,981, for in- 
stance, is really: — 



3 


X 


100000 


4 


X 


10000 


7 


X 


1000 


9 


X 


100 


S 


X 


10 


1 


X 


1 



When written out in a horizontal line each ''position" 
has a value ten times that of the ''position" to the right 
of it. It is understood that a digit which stands in a 
" position "is to be multiplied by 1, 10, 100, 1000, etc., as 
the case may be. The Mayas, using the principle of 
position, ordinarily write their bar and dot numerals in 



106 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



columns. But we can partially transcribe a Mayan 
number in imitation of our own system by marking 
dashes between the positions or periods. The number in 
five positions given below is transcribed as 9.12.16.7.8. 



9 X 144000 1,296,000 

12 X 7200 86,400 

16 X 360 5,760 

7 X 20 140 

8x1 8 



1,388,308 




Fig. 38. Face Numerals found in Mayan Inscriptions. In most 
cases these are the faces of gods. Reading from left to right: the values 
are 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10. 




Fig. 39. The Normal Forms of the Period Glyphs. Reading from 
left to right: batun, katun, tun, uinal, kin. 




Fig. 40. Face Forms of Period Glyphs. From left to right : introduc- 
ing glyph, baktun, katun, tim, uinal, kin. 



We read this date: 9 baktuns (or cycles), 12 katuns, 
16 tuns, 7 uinals, and 8 kins. It is convenient to re- 
member that a tun is a little less than a year, a katun a 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 107 

little less than 20 years and a baktun a little less than 
400 years. But the count is really of days, not years, 
and is made from a uniform beginning day, far in the 
past which marks the Mayan Era. 

Although the numerical values were expressed by 
position alone in some cases, in others use was made of 
Period Glyphs which made assurance doubly sure. 
These period glyphs represented the basic value of the 
positions which were to be multiplied by the accom- 
panying numerals. For examples see Figs. 39 and 40. 

The Long Count. On many early monuments of 
the Mayas are found dates which record a number of 
days running into the fifth position, from an era long 
before the actual beginnings of Mayan history. These 
are called Initial Series dates because they usually follow- 
immediately after the so-called Introducing Glyph. 
The starting point in the count is always a day 4 Ahau 
8 Cumhu and the inscriptions not only record the 
elapsed days since this starting point but also the name 
and number of the resulting day and its position in the 
month, the permutation cycle and the calendar rounds 
turning unceasingly. An example of a typical Initial 
Series date is given herewith as well as a Secondary 
Series which is added to the Initial Series to reach a 
Period Ending date — that is a ''round number" in the 
Mayan numerical system. 

The True Year. So far we have been concerned 
primarily with the counting of days — the astronomical 
time unit determined by the revolution of the earth 
upon its axis. Now, although the day is not contained 
evenly in the other astronomical time periods (the 
month, the year, and the apparent revolutions of the 
planets) the Mayan scholars made some remarkable 
correlations of the heterogeneous data. 



108 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

The true tropical year is determined by the revokition 
of the earth around the sun and by the recurring 
seasons. No agricultural people could neglect this time 
period with its obvious relation to planting and harvest. 
Reference has already been made to the notational 360 
day year (tun) and to the conventional 365 day year 
(haab). 

The haab was a vague year running ahead of the 
true year by the accumulating amount of the days 
which we intercalate on leap years: 1508 haab equaled 
1507 tropical years. The Mayan months like those of 
the ancient Egyptians slowly advanced through the 
seasons. But the Mayas calculated an almost exact 
correction for the excess of the true year over the 
vague 365 day year. The excess amounts to about 
.24 of a day and their correction seems to have been one 
day in four years for ordinary purposes and 25 days in 
104 years over longer stretches of time. This latter 
correction is more accurate than was that of the Julian 
calendar and nearly as accurate as that of the present 
Gregorian calendar put into service as late as 1582. 

But if the ''leap year" days were not interpolated, 
of course, the named months had no fixed positions 
in the year but swung slowly round the circle. Accord- 
ing to the table of Landa, compiled about 1554, the 
month Pop, which seems to have been regarded as 
the first of the year in ancient as well as modern 
times, began on July 16 O. S, Outside of the Mayan 
area the retrogression of the months is attested by 
actual statements of early Spanish writers. But the 
conventional 365 day year was, after all, sufficiently 
accurate to serve the needs of agriculturists and since 
retrogression was only about one day in four years, 
associations between the months and the seasons would 
hold true for the average lifetime. 



Introducing Glj^^h 



Initial Series 

1. 9 baktuns (cycles). 

2. 14 katuns 

3. 13 tuns (written 12 by error) 

4. 4 uinals 

5. 17 kins 

6. 12 Caban (day) 



Supplementary Series 

7. glyph F 

8. (a) glyph D, (b) glyph C 

9. (a) glyph X, (b) glyph B 

10. (a) glyph A (30 day lunar month) 

10. (b) 5 Kayab (month) 

Explanatory Series 

11, 12, 13 and 14a, possibly explain the dates 

Secondary Series 
14b, 3 kins, 13 uinals 
15a, 6 tuns (to be added) 

Period Ending Date 
16. 4 Ahau 13 Yax (9.15.0.0.0) 








f^^QT 














Plate XXI. Typical Mayan Inscription. 



109 



110 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

The true length of the year was probably obtained by 
observations of sunrise or sunset on summer or winter 
solstices. Fro-m some fixed point of observation, such 
as the doorway of a temple, the extreme point on the 
horizon reached by the sun in its northward or south- 
ward march could be accurately determined. Over a 
period of years the average solstitial period (tropical 
year) could be readily obtained if only the days were 
recorded and the intervals compared. 

Although we ourselves depend mostly upon the year 
count rather than the day count we must remember 
that the annual calendar was only one of several that 
the Mayas brought into relation to the inviolable count 
of days. The lunar and Venus calendars will be con- 
sidered presently. 

The Lunar Calendar. The revolution of the moon 
around the earth was used by the Mayas in what may be 
called the lunar calendar. It has already been ex- 
plained that an early lunar period of thirty days seems 
to have been arbitrarily changed to a notational one of 
twenty days. Now the exact duration of a lunar revo- 
lution is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 2.87 seconds. If 
the customary period of 29.5 days is taken for con- 
venience there is an error of about two full days in five 
years. Such an error was too great to pass the Mayan 
calendar makers. On pages 51 to 58 of the Dresden 
Codex their solution is recorded unmistakably. A suc- 
cession of 405 lunar revolutions, or nearly 33 years, is 
calculated by the addition of groups of five and six revo- 
lutions, the former given as 148 days and the latter as 
either 177 or 178 days. This method of calculation 
may have been a device to carry fractions or it may have 
been based upon ecliptic data, probably the latter. 
The steps of the calculations are put down in a sort of 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 



HI 



double entry, first by numbers, second by named days. 
The numbers add up to 11,958 while the total difference 
between the named days is 11,959. The purpose appears 
to have been to approximate 11,960. This last number 
of days contains the tzolkin an even number of times and 
would thus form a re-entering series since it would al- 




Fig. 41. Representations of the Moon : a, sun and moon hieroglyphs; 
h, moon from a "celestial band"; c, moon hieroglyph used for 20 in 
codices. 





Fig. 42. The Last Glyph of the Supplementary Series: a, moon 
glyph; combined with the numeral 9 or 10 to indicate a 29 or a 30 
day lunar month. 



ways begin with the same. day. Now it is a remarkable 
fact that the total obtained by modern astronomers for 
405 lunar revolutions is 11,959.888 days or only 0.112 of 
a day less than 1 1 ,960. Therefore, this re-entering series 
of the Mayan astronomers can be used nine times be- 
fore an error amounting to one whole day has accumu- 
lated. In other words, the lunar calendar was brought 
into a fixed relation with the day count with an error of 
one day in 300 years. 

On the monuments a more or less orderly group of 
hieroglyphs following the Initial Series has been called 



112 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

the Supplementary Series. Several of these hiero- 
glyphs contain the symbol for the moon and the last 
one contains this symbol with the numerals 9 or 10 to 
the right or below. It has been suggested that this 
last glyph stands for a 29 or 30 day month, as the case 
may be, and that the Supplementary Series records 
the position of the Initial Series date in a lunar count. 

The Venus Calendar. The Mayan astronomers 
possessed a remarkable knowledge of the movements of 
the planets. In particular the apparent revolution of 
the planet Venus was used as the basis of what we may 
call the Venus Calendar. The mean synodical year of 
Venus (nearly 584 days) is divided in the Mayan books 
into four parts of 236 days (morning star), 90 days 
(superior conjunction), 250 days (evening star), and 
8 days (inferior conjunction). These divisions agree 
closely enough with the actual divisions of the Venus 
year. But we must remember that the observations 
were made without instruments, and that the planet 
cannot be seen by the naked eye when close to the sun. 
Moreover, we must expect beliefs as to the nature of this 
planet, personified as a god, to supplement the knowl- 
edge gained from actual observations. 

The agreement in length between 8 solar years of 
365 days each and 5 Venus years of 584 days each was 
recognized and used in ceremonies and calculations. On 
the five pages of the Dresden Codex, numbered 46-50, 
are 5 Venus years amounting in all to 2920 days. On 
page 24 of the same codex (see PI. XXII) we find this 
sum taken 13 times to make 37,960 days and then 
this last number taken 4 times to make 151,840 
days. The number 2920 (5 x 584 and 8 x 365) has a 
definite relation to the tzolkin or fundamental permuta- 
tion cycle which results from the following coincidence: 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 113 

260 and 584 have a common factor of 4. It therefore 
follows that when groups of 584 days are counted con- 
secutively along with the twenty named days in the 
standard tzolkin these groups of 584 days can begin on 
only five different days. The sixth period is introduced 
by the same named day as the first but this named day 
■is associated with a different number. The same named 
day combined with the same number recurs in 13 x 2920 
or 37,960 days. This round of the Venus calendar (65 
Venus years of 584 days and 104 solar years of 365 days) 
equals exactly two Calendar Rounds. 

But there is an important correction that has to 
be made to keep the actual solar calendar in accord 
with the actual Venus calendar. The solar year is really 
365.24 days in length and we have seen that this error 
was corrected by a marginal addition of 25 days in 104 
years. The mean Venus year is really 583.92 or .08 of a 
day less than 584. There is reason to believe that this 
difference was corrected by a marginal subtraction 
amounting to two days in 25 revolutions. There 
are other interesting calculations dealing with the 
revolutions of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn, 
showing a remarkable knowledge of the mean motions 
of these planets. 

Hieroglyphs. Mayan hieroglyphs resemble the 
Egyptian and Chinese hieroglyphs only in being "sacred 
writing" that is not based upon an alphabet. The 
styles and symbols are entirely different. No Rosetta 
Stone has yet been discovered to give us inscriptions in 
more than one system of writing in Central America. 
The great use of hieroglyphic inscriptions on monuments 
was characteristic of the earlier period of Mayan history 
and at a later time the writing was reduced to books. 
Bishop Landa obtained what he supposed was a Mayan 



114 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

alphabet, but what he really obtained was a list of 
signs representing among other sounds the particular 
sounds he had asked for. 

The phonetic use of syllables rather than of simple 
sounds or letters is probably an important feature of 
Mayan writing. Many hieroglyphs are pictographic 
and consist of abbreviated pictures of the thing intended 
or of some object connected with it. Often a head 
stands for the entire body. The following list practi- 
cally exhausts our knowledge of Mayan hieroglyphs : — 

1. The 20 day signs which occur in variant forms in 
the inscriptions and codices. 

2. The 19 month signs. 

3. The face signs for numbers from zero to 19. 

4. The "period glyphs" which represent 1, 20, 360, 
7,200, 144,000 days, etc. 

5. The symbols for the four directions and possibly 
for the four colors associated with them. 

6. The hieroglyphs of several gods, mostly from the 
codices. 

7. The symbols of the sun, moon, Venus, Mars, 
Jupiter, and perhaps other heavenly bodies. 

8. A few more or less realistic hieroglyphs represent- 
ing natural objects, especially offerings. 

Of this brief list many signs connected with the cal- 
endar are given by Landa and other signs have been 
worked out through absolute mathematics in codices 
and inscriptions. 

We may expect to find in the Mayan inscriptions some 
hieroglyphs that give the names of individuals, cities, 
and political divisions and others that represent feasts, 
sacrifices, tribute, and common objects of trade as well 
as signs referring to birth, death, establishment, con- 
quest, destruction, and other fundamentals of individual 
and social existence. These signs taken with directive 



I 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 



115 



signs and dates would make possible records of consid- 
erable accuracy. There seems to be no possibility of 
purely literary inscriptions. While progress will neces- 
sarily be slow there is no reason for despair and without 
doubt the greater portion of Mayan inscriptions will 
finally be deciphered. 

■As an example of the phonetic use of signs in the 
building up of hieroglyphs let us take the common sign 
kin, meaning ''sun." This sign appears regularly in the 
glyphs for the world directions east and west, the Mayan 




Fig. 43. 
South. 





€r^^-^ 



Hieroglyphs of the Four Directions: East, North, West, 



c 




Fig. 44. Hieroglyphs containing the Phonetic Element hin: a-b, 
kin; c, li-kin; d, chi-kin; e-f, yax-kin; g, kan-kin. 



names being likin and chikin, and also in the month sign 
Yaxkin, and sometimes in that for Kankin. It also 
appears as the sign for the lowest period in the time 
count having the value of a single day and called kin. 
The sun sign pure and simple is a circle with four notches 
on the inner side in which we should doubtless see the 
four directions. The beard which is often attached to 
the kin sign may belong to the face of the sun god since 
his bearded face is sometimes used as a substitute for 
the simple kin sign in certain positions. All the words so 



116 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

far considered contain the syllable ki7i and their hiero 
glyphs contain the sign kin. Now this kin sign also ap- 
pears in many undeciphered hieroglyphs and in some of 
these it seems likely that it has a phonetic value. Other 
signs with definite values in several glyphs are yax, tun, 
zac, etc. This general method of writing is seen in more 
decipherable form among the Aztecs. The glosses of the 
early priests that have proved so great a help in the case 
of the Aztecan writing are absent from the few Mayan 
documents. 

Codices. Only three ancient Mayan books or cod- 
ices are known to exist and these are more or less incom- 
plete. They have all been reproduced in facsimile and 
are known by the following names: Dresden Codex, 
Peresianus Codex, Tro-Cortesianus Codex. 

These illuminated manuscripts are written on both 
sides of long strips of amatl paper, folded like Japanese 
screens. The paper was given a smooth surface by a 
coating of fine lime and the draw^ings were made in black 
and in various colors. From the early accounts we know 
that books were also written on prepared deerskin and 
upon bark. Concerning their subject matter we are told 
that the Mayas had many books upon civil and religious 
history, and upon rites, magic, and medicine. The three 
books named above have been carefully studied. They 
treat principally of the calendar and of associated relig- 
ious ceremonies. 

A page of the Dresden Codex containing some inter- 
esting calculations is reproduced herewith. The 
numbers with the digits one above the other are 
transcribed in two diagrams. In the upper diagram the 
bar and dot numerals are simply put over into Arabic 
numerals and the Mayan system of periods or positions 
is retained. In the lower diagram these numbers are 



1 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 117 

reduced entirely to the Arabic system. The columns are 
lettered at the top, the hieroglyphs are counted off in 
sixteen rows at the left and the separate groupings of 
numbers are shown in five sections at the right. 

Among the hieroglyphs the Venus sign is especially 
prominent. At the base of column B is given a number in 
five periods that, counted from the normal beginning day 
4 Ahau 8 Cumhu leads again to this day which is recorded 
at the bottom of column A. The long number in column 
C, similarly counted from 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, leads to 
1 Ahau 18 Kayab, recorded at the bottom of B. The 
day 1 Ahau 18 Uo is reached by another calculation 
which will be explained later. At the base of A is a 
number in three periods which amounts to 2200. Not 
only is this the difference between the long numbers in 
B and C (1,366,560—1,364,360 = 2200) but it is 
also the number of days by which 1 Ahau 18 
Kayab precedes 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu. In other words 
we deal in this passage with the end of the seventy- 
second calendar round after the original 4 Ahau 8 
Cumhu and with a new point of departure 2200 days 
earlier, which is some way involved with the calendar 
of Venus. 

Let us now make a new beginning in the lower left 
hand corner of this page. In G5 we find the number 
2920 which as we have already seen is exactly the num- 
ber of days consumed in eight years of 365 days or five 
synodic revolutions of Venus of 584 days. We will now 
see how the Mayan scholars arrived at 13x2920 or 
37,960, the calendar round of Venus. If we proceed 
towards the left in section 5 we find the second number, 
F5, is 5840 which equals 2x2920, the third is 8760 or 
3x2920, and the fourth is 11,680 or 4x2920. The addi- 
tion is continued in sections 4 and 3 till we reach 35,040 



ABC 

^ ^ P 









D E F . G 

[-*• — f r^j-^ I 







*s 



h 



i 
II 




lJ^iJ •••• •••• •••• •^ip 




Plate XXII. Page 24 Dresden Codex. 

118 





A 


B 


C 


D 


E 


F 


G 


1 

2 








1 
1 


15 


10 


5 








1 


16 


10 


5 


3 








14 


6 


16 


8 






















4 








I Ahau 


1 Ahau 


1 Ahau 


1 Ahau 


b 


1 








6 








5 


9 


4 


1 


7 








14 


11 


12 


5 


H 


ieroglyphs 




4 


7 


8 


5 


8 




















q 








1 Ahau 


1 Ahau 


1 Ahau 


1 Ahau 


iO 


4 


4 


4 


3 








17 


9 


1 


13 


11 








6 


4 


2 

























12 








6 Ahau 


11 Ahau 


3 Ahau 


8 Ahau 


1 -t 


















3 
4 


2 

16 


2 
8 


2 



14 






15 




9 


9 


16 


14 


12 


10 




9 


9 














16 




16 



9 

16 


13 Ahau 


5 Ahau 


10 Ahau 


2 Ahau 




6 


1 


1 








2 






12 


4 


16 


8 













5 [8] 


6 


4 


2 






















4 Ahau 


1 Ahau 


1 Ahau 












8 Cumhu 


18 Kayab 


18 Uo 


7 Ahau 


12 Ahau 


4 Ahau 


9 Ahau 



Diagram showing partial reduction 
Numbers in the calculation shown on 
(Plate XXII). 



of Mayan numbers into Arabic 
page 24 of the Dresden Codex 



A 


B 


C 


D 


E 


F 


G 


Hieroglyphs 


151,840 
1 Ahau 


113,880 
1 Ahau 


75,920 
1 Ahau 


37,960 
1 Ahau 


185,120 
1 Ahau 


68,900 
1 Ahau 


33,280 
1 Ahau 


9,100 
1 Ahau 






35,040 
6 Ahau 


32,120 

11 Ahau 


29,200 
3 Ahau 


26,280 
8 Ahau 




1,366,560 

1 Ahau 
18 Kayab 


1,364,360 

1 Ahau 
18 Uo 


23,360 
13 Ahau 


20,440 
5 Ahau 


17,520 
10 Ahau 


14,600 
2 Ahau 


2,200 

4 Ahau 
8 Cumhu 


11,680 
7 Ahau 


8,760 
12 Ahau 


5,840 
4 Ahau 


2,920 
9 Ahau 



Diagram showing complete reduction into Arabic numbers of the 
calculation shown on page 24 of the Dresden Codex (Plate XXII). 

119 



120 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



or 12 X 2920. To be sure the scribe made a slight error in 
one place, writing a 5 for an 8 but this is caught up by 
the day signs 9 Ahau, 4 Ahau, 7 Ahau, 12 Ahau, etc., 
that fall at regular intervals of 2920 days. 

From section 3, the calculation jumps to section 1 
where the numbers in the original are partly destroyed. 
They have, however, been restored with perfect assur- 
ance since the days in all instances are 1 Ahau and there- 
fore must be separated by multiples of 260 days. The 
number in Gl has been restored as 5-5-8-0 or 37,960 or 
13x2920. It contains 260 an even number of times 
and therefore every successive period of 37,960 days 







^^ 



^^^/A!iffiy>>ffy^y7:^7:2fi^/Jy.'/^yy'^y'^^^ 



Fig. 45. Mayan Ceremony as represented in the 
Dresden Codex. The figure at the left beats a drum 
while the one on the right plays a flageolet. The sound 
is indicated by scrolls. The head on the pyramid is that 
of the Maize God and it rests upon the sign caban, meaning 
earth. 

begins with the same day, 1 Ahau. It also equals 
13x8x365 days or 104 years and 13x5x584 days or 
sixty-five revolutions of Venus. 

The three numbers to the left in Fl, El, and Dl are 
respectively 2, 3, and 4 times 37,960. The last number, 
151,840 days is therefore equal to 416 years or exactly 8 
calendar rounds of 18,980 days. 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 121 

The numbers in section 2 are more difficult to explain 
but they possibly have to do with corrections and cor- 
relations of astronomical periods. If we add to 1 Ahau 
ISKayab the number of days in E2, (68900), we arrive 
at a day 1 Ahau 13 Mac. This day is prominent in 
more detailed calculations elsewhere in the Dresden 
■Codex. If we add to the same 1 Ahau 18 Kayab the 
number in D2 we arrive at 1 Ahau 18 Uo recorded at 
the bottom of C. Space permits no further explanation 
but the reader will see from the foregoing the method of 
experiment and cross checking that must be applied to 
the decipherment of the Mayan manuscripts. Fortun- 
ately, the relationships of numbers are absolute and the 
coincidences between the recorded numbers and 
astronomical periods are too close and frequent to be 
dismissed as accidental. 

In addition to rational calculations dealing with 
astronomy one sees in the Mayan manuscripts many 
arrangements of the tzolkin supposed to bring to light 
good and bad days and to forecast events. A section of 
the Dresden Codex showing a condensed tzolkin is pre- 
sented along with a diagram of its parts. At the top and 
right are seventeen hieroglyphs containing the symbols 
of the four directions, and of at least three of the princi- 
pal gods. At the right is a column of five day signs with 
the number 3 at the head of the column. The permuta- 
tion is divided into five parts of fifty-two days each and 
each part is subdivided into four groups of three days 
each. It begins with 3 Akbal the day sign at the top of 
the column and after the four subdivisions of thirteen 
days each have been counted we arrive at the day 3 
Men, the second day sign in the column. The count is 
repeated till the 260 days have been exhausted and we 
come back again to 3 Akbal. In the diagram the red 
numbers of the codex are represented by Roman 




1 

East 



3 
God 



5 
North 



7 

Woman 



Good Days 







9 


10 


West 


* 


11 


12 


God G 


+ 

t 



III 



Akbal 



2 

Men 



3 
Manik 



4 

Cauac 



God B— rain and sky 
god of good powers. 

Holds Kan (maize) 
sign in his hand. 



Goddess with serpent 
headdress possibly con- 
nected with floods. 
Holds Kan sign in hand. 



God K^ benevolent 
sun god. If space had 
been larger God E (the 
maize god) would prob- 
ably have been drawn 
next. 



13 

South 



15 
God E 



16 
Week of 
13 days 



17 

Ahau 



Plate XXIII. (a) Detail of the Dresden Coiiex showing Tzolkin 
used in Divination; (b) Analysis of the above Tzolkin. according to 
Forstemann. 

122 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 123 

numerals and the black numbers by Arabic numerals. 
Since the count in this example begins with 3 and the 
addition is always 13, or exactly one round of numbers, 
the resultant days always have the number 3. 

The three pictures of gods give us an inkling into the 
significance of this particular table of chances. All of 
the gods carry the kan or maize sign in their hands. The 
first god is the benevolent rain god and the third is 
the benevolent sun god. Between them is seated the 
malevolent goddess of floods with a serpent on her 
head. The maize god is not shown but his hieroglyph is 
given. This tzolkin probably deals with agriculture 
and may be an attempt to determine lucky days for 
planting. 

Bases of Mayan Chronology. Early attempts to 
bring about a concordance of Mayan and European 
chronology met with widely varying results. Most of 
these attempts were made by developing a single line of 
evidence and some were based on assumptions that can 
now be disproved. But no single line of evidence should 
be deemed sufficient to decide this all important ques- 
tion. In recent years, however, the more pretentious 
correlations have struck very close to the mark. Mr. 
Morley in his Inscriptions at Copan has brought a 
wealth of dates to bear upon the problem, while the 
writer of this handbook has been able to show an exact 
agreement between the Mayan, Aztecan, Cakchiquel, 
and Quiche calendars in use in the sixteenth century, 
as well as a structural correlation between the ancient 
and late time counts of the Mayas themselves. An 
effort will be made to explain in a few paragraphs the 
essential arguments. The general course of Mayan 
history is indicated unmistakably by three principal 









Plate XXIV. Development, in Style of Carving at Copan. Left 
to right: Stela 9 (9.10.10.0.0, 383 A. D.); Stela 5 (9.13.15.0.0,447 
A. D.); Stela N (9.16.10.0.0, 502 A. D.); Stela H (9.17.12.0.0, 
523 A. D.); Bottom: Details of architecture showing analogous 
development. 

124 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 125 

lines of evidence capable of being correlated with each 
other. These are: — 

1st, Natural developments of sculpture, architecture, 
etc. 

2nd, Inscribed dates on monuments. 

3rd, Traditional history in the Books of Chilam 
Balam. 

A fourth important line of evidence remains to be de- 
veloped in the future. This relates to astronomical 
time. There is more than a suspicion that the Mayas 
v/ere able to predict eclipses and there is a strong possi- 
bility that planetary conjunctions and other calculable 
phenomena were also recorded. Astronomical checks 
on chronology may possibly appear after a careful study 
of the calculations relating to Venus. 

Natural developments in sculpture, etc., validate the 
contemporaneous and therefore historical character of 
many inscribed dates. In fact, the relative chronology 
of the cities of the first great Mayan period, covering 
over 600 years, is now upon a very certain basis. After 
the close of this period the dates were no longer in- 
scribed. We are still able to indicate the course of 
change in the arts but we cannot express this in terms of 
years. Finally, in the books of Chilam Balam we have a 
dependable series of traditions affecting a considerable 
part of the Mayan nation over a stretch of 1400 years 
previous to the Spanish Conquest. Now it seems certain 
that the traditional record overlaps the inscribed record 
so far as definite dating is concerned while the natural 
developments give aid and comfort to the simplest and 
most direct correlation. 

Historical Development of Art. The sequence 
of Mayan monuments can be determined from a study 
of the style of sculpture. Beginning with the human 




^\ 




Fig. 46. The Front Head of the Two-Headed Dragon on Stelse at 
Piedras Negras showing the Increase in Flamboyant Treatment. The 
interval between (a) and (b) is 125 years, that between (h) and (c) is 
45 years. 



126 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 127 

form we find at Copan a remarkably homogeneous 
series of stelae on which a royal or priestly personage 
stands erect and in front view. A Ceremonial Bar is 
held symmetrically in the two arms and the body is 
partly covered with rich and elaborate ornament. The 
amount of relief, the proportions of the body, the forms 
of the Ceremonial Bar, etc., all pass through a harmoni- 
ous development. The earliest monuments show a 
crude block-like carving of the face, with protruding 
eyes, while the latest monuments have fully rounded 
contours. At Tikal the stelae show, for the most part, 
human figures in profile, but unmistakable development 
can be seen in general quality of carving as well as in 
specific details. 

In making comparisons in art it is always necessary to 
consider similar things. At many other Mayan cities 
than the two named above it is possible to obtain satis- 
factory evidence of sequence in art forms by cutting 
out similar details from different masses. Thus at Nar- 
anjo when we examine all the Ceremonial Bars we find a 
remarkable development of flamboyant detail on the 
later monuments. At Quirigua the faces on the tops of 
the altars may be compared with the same result. At 
Piedras Negras the heads of the Two-headed Dragon 
that occur in exactly similar positions on four monu- 
ments likewise show a steady modification towards 
flamboyancy as may be seen from Fig. 46, where the 
front heads are put side by side. 

Still other lines of evidence on historical sequence are 
to be gained from a study of architecture. Not only is 
it possible to determine the general developments that 
hold true of the entire Mayan area but also in a given 
city it is sometimes possible to arrange the buildings in 
their order of erection according to dependable criteria, 
both decorative and structural. 



128 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



^^ 



The earliest temples have narrow vaulted rooms, 
heavy walls, and a single doorway. The rooms increase 
in width, the walls decrease in 
thickness, the doorways multiply 
till the spaces between them be- 
come piers and finally columns. 
The support for the heavy roof 
comb taxed the structural ingenu- 
ity of the Mayan architects. The 
solving of this problem is marked 
by successive advances and since 
mechanical sci- 
ence goes for- 
ward rather than 
backward the 
relative order of 
structures is 
fairly certain. 
Moreover, many 
buildings are 
closely associat- 
ed with dated 
monuments , tab- 
lets, lintels, or 
stelae. Still an- 
other evidence 
of architectural sequence is seen in structures that 
have been enlarged by the addition of wings or by the 
enclosing of the old parts under new masonry. 

Dated Monuments. We have seen that many 
monuments carry hieroglyphic inscriptions containing 
dates in the Mayan system of counting time. It is im- 
possible to read the texts that accompany these dates. 
But it is a remarkable fact that when we arrange the 





Fig. 47. Grotesque 
Face on the Back of 
Stela B, Copan. 



Fig. 48. Jaguar in 
Dresden Codex with 
a Water Lily attached 
to Forehead. 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 



129 



monuments in their artistic order we find that the in- 
scribed dates in the great majority of cases fall in the 
same order. This leads us to conclude that the dates 
are practically contemporaneous with the carving and 

setting up of the monu- 
ments. Now the above is 
especially true when the in- 
scription gives a simple In- 
itial Series date. When more 
than one date is given the 
historic one appears in most 
instances to be the latest, 
but in a few instances it ap- 
pears to be a specially em- 
phasized intermediate date. 
In addition, then, to con- 
temporaneous dates there are 
some that refer to the past 
and others that refer to the 
future. 

Some writers have assum- 
ed that the stelae and other 
inscribed monuments were 
primarily time markers set 
up at the end of hotun (or five 
year) periods. This seems 
an unnecessarily narrow view. We can demonstrate 
that some inscriptions deal with astronomical facts 
covering long stretches of time. It is also apparent that 
many of the sculptures represent conquests and it is 
extremely likely that portraits of actual rulers are to be 
seen in certain carvings. It would be too much to ex- 
pect events to happen regularly at the end of time 
periods and as a matter of fact we find at different cities 
repeated dates that do not occupy such positions. 




Fig. 49. Late Sculpture from 
Chichen Itza. The headdress 
resembles that worn by the 
rulers on the highlands of 
Mexico. 



130 xMEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

These repeated dates would seem to recall events of 
special importance to the city in question. 

The running co-ordination between the apparent 
order of the artistic styles and inscribed dates permits us 
to measure very accurately the rate of change in art 
which was rapid, indeed, at certain times. The style 
of carving, on the other hand, enables us to put 
into definite 52 year periods many of the calendar 
round dates — if these are to be regarded as contempor- 
aneous. The result is that for the First Empire, as it 
has been called, there is an exceedingly accurate chron- 
ology. After the fall and abandonment of the great 
southern cities dates are rare and we have to fall back 
upon remnants of history preserved after the coming of 
the Spaniards. 

Books of Chilam Balam. The Books of Chilam 
Balam are digests of ancient chronicles preserved in the 
Mayan language, but in Spanish script. They cover a 
continuous record of 68 katuns (periods of 7200 days) 
before the coming of the Spaniards to Yucatan in 1517. 
The events are recorded as occurring in such and such a 
katun, these katuns being designated by a day Ahau 
associated with a number 1-13, falling in the peculiar 
sequence 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, after which 
there is a repeat. Now this is exactly the sequence of 
the numbers combined with the day Ahau on the termi- 
nal days of the katuns in the Long Count, and we as- 
sume that these katuns are actual round numbers in 
the Long Count of days running from the original 4 
Ahau 8 Cumhu. But the period instead of being called 
by its serial number in the notation of days is called by 
its terminal day. The Mayas, at all times, laid stress 
on the period-ending days. This Short Count may be 
compared to our own use of '22 for 1922, which is 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 131 

accurate enough for a hundred years, and with the miss- 
ing part supphed becomes a part of the normal 
chronological record. But the U kahlay katunob or 
''record of the katuns", has a cycle of 13x7200 days or 
about 256 years. It begins with a Katun 8 Ahau, which 
is identified on good grounds with the important date 
at the very beginning of Mayan greatness, namely, 
9.0.0.0.0, 8 Ahau 13 Ceh. Each return to Katun 8 
Ahau is called a ''doubling back of the katuns", that is, 
a cycle. Using the katun record and counting back 
from the Katun 2 Ahau which came to an end about the 
"time the Spaniards made their first formal landing in 
Yucatan, we arrive at 176 A.D. as the date of the first 
katun in the Books of Chilam Balam. Unfortunately, 
the statements of events accompanying this time record 
are quite meager, but we do find some of the outstanding 
facts in the history of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and 
Mayapan. 

Correlation with Christian Chronology. 

Chichen Itza is the only ancient city mentioned by name 
in the chronicles at which an inscribed Initial Series 
date has been found. If this inscription is put in the 
first recorded occupation of the city a bond is established 
entirely in agreement with the one just discussed when 
9.0.0.0.0, 8 Ahau 13 Ceh is declared equivalent to the 
first Katun 8 Ahau of the chronicles. 

The day-for-day correlation necessitates the arrange- 
ment and examination of much detailed proof. There 
are statements in native and Spanish documents 
about the ends of tuns and katuns, and about the 
Year-Bearers which were the first days of the years. 
Bishop Landa gives a Mayan year with its Spanish 
equivalent, day for day. Then there is the record of the 
Aztecan calendar of the Valley of Mexico and the Cak- 



132 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

chiquel and Quiche calendars of Guatemala. All of 
these calendars prove to be identical and an equation is 
established by which Katun 2 Ahau is found to end on 
July 26, Julian Calendar, 1516, and to be equivalent to 
12.8.0.0.0, 2 Ahau 3 Pop in the Long Count. According 
to this the first day of the Mayan Era is November 10, 
3485 B.C. But the earliest date on a monument, which 
can be regarded as historical, falls a century before the 
time of Christ. 

Summary of Mayan History. A brief summary 
of Mayan history is given below : — 

Protohistoric Period 
Before 176 A.D.— 9.0.0.0.0 
During this period the calendar and hieroglyphic 
systems were being developed. The earliest date 
is the somewhat doubtful one on the Tuxtla Stat- 
uette (96 B. C). The next earliest date is the assured 
one on the Leiden Plate (61 A. D.). Several early 
monuments at a site in northern Guatemala called 
Uaxactun have recently been discovered by Mr. S. G. 
Morley. They carry dates in the eighth cycle. 

Early Period 
176 A.D. to 373 A.D.— 9.0.0.0.0 to 9.10.0.0.0 
During this period the great cities of the south 
had their start. Enormous mounds were erected and 
temples were built upon them. Public squares were 
laid out and in these were set up stelse and altars. The 
earliest deciphered date at the great city of Tikal 
is 9.2.0.0.0 (216 A.D.) on Stela 24. Several monu- 
ments at this city are carved in a still earlier style. 
The earliest dates at Copan follow closely on those of 
Tikal. 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 133 

later. The carving throughout this period is crude and 
angular. The profile presentation of the human figure 
is better handled by the early artists than is front view 
presentation. The principal conventions of Mayan art 
seem to have been fixed during the protohistoric period 
and the serpent was much used as a motive of decoration 
during the early period. It seems likely that the 
archaic pottery art of the arid highlands, discussed in 
the previous chapter, was still being made when Mayan 
art began its remarkable rise. The transitional types 
as regards the modeling of the human face and figure 
are doubtless to be assigned to the first three centuries 
of the Christian Era. 

Middle Period 
373 A.D. to 472 A.D.— 9.10.0.0.0 to 9.15.0.0.0 
Some of the most beautiful works of art belong to the 
middle period. While archaism did not actually dis- 
appear till the end of this period there is a certain 
purity of style and straightforwardness of presentation 
about many of these early sculptures. Flamboyancy 
is not apparent. At Copan the Great Mound was begun 
during this period and this enormous undertaking doubt- 
less absorbed so much energy that few stelae were set 
up. The best series of monuments from the middle 
period are seen at Naranjo and Piedras Negras. 

Great Period 
472 A.D. to 620 A.D. 
A short brilliant period followed in which many cities 
flourished. In addition to the cities already mentioned 
there were Quirigua, Ixkun, Seibal, Holmul, Nakum, 
Cancuen, Yaxchilan, Palenque, etc. The art passes 
through some interesting changes, becoming more com- 
plex in certain features and less complex in others. The 



134 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

architecture makes great advances. Rooms become 
wider, walls thinner, and forms more refined and pleas- 
ing. The calculations in the inscriptions deal more and 
more with complicated astronomical subjects and 
historical Initial Series dates become less and less 
common but many dates of the calendar round and 
period ending types are given. This brilliant epoch 
seems to have come to an end through civil war, social 
decadence, or perhaps an overwhelming epidemic. 
There is evidence that yellow fever swept over Central 
America before the coming of Europeans. The refer- 
ences in the chronicles to this early period are very 
brief. The settlement of Bacalar is recorded as well as 
the discovery of Chichen Itza. An Initial Series in- 
scription at the latter site aids in the correlation of the 
ancient dates with European chronology. 

Transition Period 
620 A.D. to 980 A.D. 
The early Mayan cities were abandoned about 600 
A.D. and a general shift towards the north took place. 
Architecture was still kept up but pictorial sculpture 
practically disappeared. Certain cities south of Uxmal 
probably date from this transitional period, examples 
being Hochob and Dsibilnocac. At Xcalumkin there is 
an Initial Series date which belongs in the Transition 
Period, but the reading is uncertain. The architectural 
styles form the only evidence of artistic sequence availa- 
ble, although if excavations were conducted it is possible 
that pottery would also help. In the chronicles this 
period falls, for the most part, after the first abandon- 
ment of Chichen Itza and while the Mayas were hold- 
ing the land of Chakanputun. This land may be the 
central portion of the Yucatan peninsula. 



the mayan civilization 135 

Period of the League of Mayapan 
980 A.D. to 1200 A.D. 
This period is characterized by a noteworthy re- 
vival of architecture occurring in northern Yucatan. 
According to the chronicles the land of Chakanputun 
was abandoned by the tribe of Mayas known as the 
Itzas and Chichen Itza was re-established. About 
the same time Uxmal and Mayapan were also founded 
and a league between these three principal cities was 
instituted. Many other cities, such as Kabah, Labna, 
Sayil, and Izamal also seem to have flourished at this 
time but we have no traditions of any except Izamal. 
The architectural styles of decoration during this period 
are more formal than those of earlier times. The mask 
panel, a face reduced to a rectangular area and built 
up mosaic-like out of separately carved blocks, is the 
most important motive but there is also a great use of 
geometric figures such as fret meanders, banded 
columns, and imitation diagonal lattice work. At Ux- 
mal and Chichen Itza are found highly modified and 
scarcely recognizable examples of profile mask panels 
such as occur in realistic forms in earlier cities. 
Several of the large communal buildings show different 
stages of growth. Several buildings at Uxmal and 
Chichen Itza are dated by inscriptions. 

Period of Mexican Influence 
1200 A.D. to 1450 A.D. 
This period lies between the first serious outbreak 
of civil war under the league of the three cities and 
the final destruction of Mayapan about a hundred 
years before the Spaniards settled at Merida. The civil 
war was begun by a w^arrior called Hunac Ceel and 
Chichen Itza was loser. This chief seems to have called 



136 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

for aid upon seven foreigners with Mexican names. 
These foreigners may have later acquired Chichen Itza 
as the spoils of war. There is no definite statement to 
this effect, but the architecture and art of Chichen Itza 
show a great and sudden influx of new ideas that are 
characteristic of the Valley of Mexico. No other city 
of this region has so many of these intrusive features. 
An instance is the Great Ball Court with its connected 
temples. The ball court is found in many Mexican 
cities where it had a strong religious significance but it 
is absent from any of the great Mayan cities with the 
exception of Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Sculptures and 
hieroglyphs in the style of the Mexican highlands also 
occur in quantity at Chichen Itza. No one can state 
definitely the length of this Toltecan supremacy on 
Mayan soil, but it probably was not for long and pos- 
sibly came to an end before the middle of the fourteenth 
century. The cities in the Valley of Mexico to which 
this intrusive culture is to be ascribed are those of the 
Toltecan period, such as Tula, Teotihuacan, and 
Cholula. 

Modern Period 
1450 to the present day 
After the fall of Mayapan, the Mayas seem to have 
been divided into many warring factions. All the great 
cities w^ere abandoned although the temples were still 
regarded as sacred. Of course, stone construction was 
still prevalent as we know from some of the Spanish 
descriptions of towns on the coast. Learning was still 
maintained by the nobles and the priests. But there 
was not the centralized authority necessary for the 
keeping of such luxurious capitals as existed in the old 
days. The Itzas, in part at least, returned to one of 
their ancient seats in the south, founding the island 



THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 137 

town of Tayasal in Lake Peten. Here Mayan culture 
was preserved until 1697. At the present time certain 
ancient ideas still persist as has already been stated in 
connection with the ethnology of the Lacandone Indi- 
ans. Upon the western highlands there are preserved 
traditions which concern the Quiches, Cakchiquels, and 
other Mayan tribes, but the history does not go back for 
more than two hundred years before the Spanish con- 
quest. All in all, there is little to be said in favor of the 
frequent plaint that the coming of the white man 
snuffed out a culture that promised great things. The 
golden days of the Mayan civilization had already 
passed, and, if we may judge by the history of other 
nations, would never have returned. 




o 



Ph 



Chapter III 
THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 

THE influence of the Mayan civilization when at 
its height (400 to 600 A.D.) may be traced far 
beyond the Hmits of the Mayan area. Ideas in 
art, rehgion, and government that were then spread 
broadcast served to quicken nations of diverse speech 
and a series of divergent cultures resulted. Most of 
these lesser civilizations were at their best long after the 
great Mayan civilization had declined, but one or two 
were possibly contemporary. It will be the aim in the 
present chapter to emphasize the indebtedness of these 
lesser civilizations to the Mayas as well as to com- 
ment upon their individual characters. 

We will first proceed northwest into Mexico and then 
southeast into the Isthmus of Panama. The environ- 
ment under which the Mayas developed their arts of 
life continues in narrowing bands westward along the 
Gulf of Mexico and southward across the Isthmus of 
Tehuantepec. The most westerly Mayan city of im- 
portance seems to have been Comalcalco. But there 
is also a large ruin near San Andres Tuxtla and it may 
be significant that the earliest dated object of the Mayas 
(the Tuxtla Statuette) came from this region. In other 
words, the cradle of Mayan culture may have been in 
this coastal belt where arid and humid conditions exist 
side by side and where the figurines of the archaic type 
are found together with those of the Mayas. Unfortu- 
nately, the archaeology of this part of Mexico has been 
little studied and we are compelled to go farther up the 
coast, to the Totonacs or farther inland to the Zapotecs 
before we can find material for comparisons. 

139 





rt 



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^ 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 141 

Zapotecan Culture. In the State of Oaxaca the 
Zapotecan Indians attained to a high degree of civiliza- 
tion, but a study of their culture shows they were pro- 
foundly indebted to the Mayas for many ideas. Monte 
Alban, the White Mountain, overlooking the modern 
City of Oaxaca was the principal archaeological site in 
■ point of size and may have been the ancient capital. 
It was abandoned before the coming of the Spaniards, 
however, and Mitla appears to have taken its place. 




Fig. 50. Comparison of Mayan and Zapotecan Serpent Heads. 
The first two examples are from Palenque and the second two from 
Monte Alban. 

Unfortunately no extensive traditions have come 
down to us to help in the restoration of Zapotecan 
history, nor in that of the neighboring Mixtecs. Al- 
though the art, hieroglyphic writing, and calendar 
system were pretty clearly derived from the Mayas, 
nevertheless there was time and opportunity for these 
to develop interesting characters of their own. It is 
impossible to tell from the record whether the Zapotecs 
ever embarked on a career of empire : the area in which 
the characteristic products are found is practically 
limited to the area at present occupied by the tribe. A 
single beautiful temple at the famous ruin of Xochicalco, 
far to the northwest of the Zapotecan area (see p. 158) 
does show points of close similarity in sculptural art. 

Monte Alban and Mitla stand in strong contrast to 
each other, the first crowning a mountain ridge, the 
second occupying a valley site. Monte Alban has no 



142 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

buildings intact, but shows a vast assemblage of 
enormous pyramids and platforms. Mitla has only one 
small pyramid, but boasts a series of finely preserved 
temples on low platform bases. In Monte Alban we 
find monolithic monuments comparable to the stelae 
of the Mayas, and carrying hieroglyphic inscriptions: 
also pottery figurines and jade amulets in a style which 
follows rather closely the models developed in the 
early cities of the humid lowlands. At Mitla there are 
none of these things: instead, the architectural dec- 
oration shows a most interesting use of textile designs 
treated in a mosaic of cut stones. It is apparent then 
that a long record of high culture is to be found in the 
Zapotecan field. 

At Monte Alban there are one or two narrow vaulted 
chambers in mounds, but on the tops of the mounds the 
few excavations have disclosed only simple cell-like 
rooms which probably had flat roofs. Some hints of 
ancient architectural decoration can be picked up here 
and there. Figures similar to those modeled in bold 
relief on the fronts of the cylindrical funeral urns (see 
frontispiece) seem to have been used over doorways, 
somewhat after the fashion of the Mayan mask panels. 




ooo 



Fig. 51. Bar and Dot Numerals combined with Hieroglyphs on 
Zapotecan Monuments. 

The hieroglyphs that are found on the stelse of Monte 
Alban and on stone slabs from other sites, resemble the 
Mayan hieroglyphs in the use of bar and dot numerals, 
but the day and month signs have never been identified 






Plate XXVII. Zapotecan Art: Incense Burners, Funerary Vases 
of Portrait Type, Cruciform Tomb with Geometric Decoration 



144 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

with either the Mayan or Aztecan system. Lintels with 
lines of hieroglyphs on the outer edge have been found in 
burial chambers at Cuilapa and Xoxo. The forms at 
the former site are clearly and beautifully drawn, while 
at the latter site they are degenerate and probably 
merely decorative. 

In Zapotecan funerary urns a close connection wdth 
Mayan art can easily be demonstrated. The urns are 
cylindrical vessels concealed behind elaborate figures 
built up from moulded and modeled pieces. Many of 
these built-up figures clearly represent human beings 
while others represent grotesque divinities or human 
beings wearing the masks of divinities. The purely 
human types have a formal modeling in high relief, the 
head usually being out of proportion to the rest of the 
body. The pose is ordinarily a seated one with the 
hands resting on the knees or folded over the breast. 
Details of dress are very clearly shown including capes, 
girdles, aprons, or skirts and headdresses. Necklaces 
are often worn with a crossbar pendant to which shells 
are attached. Headdresses are made of feathers and 
grotesque faces and are often very elaborate. As for 
the divine types the jaguar and a long-nosed reptile are 
the most common. The latter has a human body and 
may possibly be an adaptation of the Mayan Long- 
nosed God. 

The funerary urns are found in burial mounds called 
mogotes which contain cell-like burial chambers. The 
urns are not found within these cells but on the floor in 
front of them, in a niche over the door, or even on the 
roof. They are frequently encountered in groups of 
five and seem never to contain offerings. 

Other Zapotecan pottery is mostly made of the same 
bluish clay used in the urns. This clay is finely 
adapted to plastic treatment but never carries painted 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 145 

designs. The pottery products include pitchers of 
beautiful and unusual shapes, dishes with tripod legs 
modeled into serpent heads, incense burners, bowls, 
plates, etc. Of the same clay are also made whistles in 
realistic forms, and moulded figurines. Painted pot- 
tery also occurs in forms and designs of rare beauty, 
but it is much less characteristic of the Zapotecan 
province than the unpainted ware. 

Carved jades of splendid workmanship have been 
recovered in the Zapotecan region and there is reason 
to believe that this semi-precious stone was obtained 
here in the natural state. Many of the pieces are 
smoothed only on the front, while the back retains its 
old weathered and stream-worn surface. Beautiful 
examples of gold work have also been found in this 
region. 

Splendid manuscripts were obtained by the Spaniards 
in the Zapotecan region, but the pictures of the gods as 
well as the hieroglyphs show strong Aztecan influences. 
These will be discussed briefly in a later section. Some 
accounts have been preserved of the special features of 
Zapotecan religion which mark them off rather sharply 
from the Aztecs, however. 

The high priests of the Zapotecans were called 
"Seers" and the ordinary priests were ''Guardians of 
the Gods" and ''Sacrificers." There was a sort of 
priestly college where the sons of chiefs were trained 
in the service of the gods. The religious practices 
included incense burning, sacrificing of birds, and ani- 
mals, and letting of one's own blood by piercing the 
tongue and the ear. Human sacrifice was made on 
stated occasions and was attended by rites of great 
solemnity. The Zapotecs never went to the blood 
excesses that stain the annals of the Aztecs. 




Plate XXVIII. (a) Stone Sculpture of the Early Zapotecan 
Period showing Rulers seated upon Thrones before an Altar; {b) 
Jade Tablets piei*ced~for Suspension, fdund in Zapotecan Tomb. 

146 



THE MIDDLE! CIVILIZATIONS 



147 



The 260 day cycle of the 
time count, was subdivided 
into four periods of 65 days 
and each period was under 
control of a single god and 
was associated with one of 
the cardinal points. Each 
period of sixty-five days was 
further divided into five 
groups of thirteen days for a 
ceremonial reason. Some 
authorities have considered 
that the general form of the 
Central American calendar 
originated in the region of 
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
and spread to the north and 
to the south. But depend- 
able history in the Mayan 
area goes back much farther 
than in the Zapotecan re- 
gion and renders such a 
guess extremely hazardous. 

Mitla. The famous tem- 
ples of Mitla are the best- 
preserved examples of archi- 
tecture on the highlands of 
Mexico and are peculiar in 
form and decoration. The 
word Mitla is a corruption 
of the Aztecan word Mictlan, 
place of the dead. This site 
was the burial ground of 
Zapotecan kings and may 
have been a place of pilgrim- 









Fig. 52. Detail of \\all Con- 
struction at Mitla, showing the 
separately Carved Stones. 



148 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



age. It was conquered by the Aztecs in the last decade 
of the fifteenth century. While the architecture be- 
longs in a class by itself the frescoes have the distinct 
character of the Aztecan period. 

The remains at this site have already been contrasted 
with those at Monte Alban. There is one fairly large 
mound at Mitla but it has no surviving superstructure. 
The temples are placed on low platforms which usually 
contain cruciform tombs. The buildings are carefully 
oriented and are assembled in groups of four which 
almost enclose square paved courts. The heavy walls 
have surfaces of cut stone and a filling of concrete or 
rubble and are ornamented with longitudinal panels of 



fe?, fe3 fe) (3) fe3 fe) (iJ s^ y y ^ fe^ @ -fe^/fe? 




Fig. .53. Wall Paintings of Mitla, resembling in style the Picto- 
graphic Art of the Codices from Southern Mexico. 



geometric designs arranged according to a carefully 
worked out plan. The geometric patterns are based on 
textile art and the mosaics of separately carved stones 
which fit neatly together preserve for us the ancient 
designs on belts and mantles. The chambers are long 
and narrow and formerly had flat roofs which have com- 
pletely vanished. The wide doorways usually have two 
piers which help to support the lintel blocks. These are 
carefully trimmed stones of great length and weight. 
All the outer surfaces of the Mitla temples were sized 
with plaster and painted red and the frescoes, traces of 
which can still be seen in several buildings, are in red and 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 149 

black upon a white base. Various gods and ceremonies 
are represented in these frescoes, but only the upper 
portion of the bands can be made out in detail. 

Cruciform tombs are found under several of the 
temples at Mitla as well as at a number of neighboring 
sites such as Xaaga and Guiaroo. In these tombs the 
■designs in panels appear on the inside and are carved 
directly on large blocks of stone. Pottery remains are 
rare in the cruciform tombs of the Mitla type but a few 
examples of gold work have been discovered in them. 

Within a short distance of Mitla is a fortified hill 
with several heavy walls that still stand to the height of 
perhaps twenty feet. In the flat valley between this 
hill and the ruins a considerable number of potsherds 
are plowed up in the field. 

Totonacan Culture. In the central part of the 
state of Vera Cruz are found the remains commonly 
referred to the Totonacan Indians. These Indians are 
southern neighbors of the Huastecas who are an outly- 
ing Mayan tribe. The Totonacan language is accord- 



ci> 



S 3 4 5 

Fig. 54. The Eyes of Totonacan Figurines. 



ing to some authorities thrown into the Mayan stock. 
If not truly Mayan it contains many loan words. This 
apparent connection in language is all the more inter- 
esting in view of the character of Totonacan art which 
also shows a strong strain of Mayan feeling and tech- 
nique in certain products but an unmistakable likeness 
to the archaic art of the Mexican highlands in certain 
other products. The pottery faces in the archaic style 
are advanced beyond the average of such work and 
probably represent a late phase. It is possible to bring 



150 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



forward examples of every degree of transition from the 
archaic style to the classical Mayan of Tabasco and 
Chiapas. Curiously enough, it does not seem possible 
to extend these linking likenesses to the Huastecas. 



...*«*f'!i'^': 




Plato XXIX. Laughing Head of the Totonacs, remarkable example 
of Freehand Modeling in Clay. Heads of this type probably served as 
decorative details on temple fronts. 



A series of eyes showing Totonacan modifications of 
the styles prevalent on the archaic pottery heads of the 
Highlands is given in Fig. 54. In some cases we find the 
simple single or double groove eyes and in other cases 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS " 151 

these eyes are made more conspicuous by the use of 
black bituminous paint. The eyeball is developed at 
the end of the series. 

The smiling or laughing faces have a much higher 
technique and are perhaps the finest examples of clay 
modeling from the New World. These heads have 
tubular extensions at the back and were possibly set 
into temple wallsi The faces and foreheads are broad- 
ened in accordance with the esthetic type of a forehead 
flattening people While the faces vary so much in 
minor details as to create the impression that they are 
portraits of actual persons they are alike in method of 
modeling. Nearly all are laughing or smiling in a very 
contagious fashion. Sometimes the tip of the tongue is 
caught between the teeth, sometimes the corners of the 
mouth are pulled down as if the smile were reluctant, 
and there are other individual variations in the expres- 
sions of lively and unrestrained mirth. 

Perhaps the most famous objects found in Totonacan 
territory are the so-called ''stone collars" or ''sacri- 
ficial yokes." In size and shape these resemble horse 
collars, but in contrast to somewhat similar objects from 
Porto Rico they are usually open while the latter are 
closed. Nothing is really known concerning their use 
but there has been no lack of fanciful surmises. The 
most popular explanation is that the yokes wxre placed 
over the necks of victims about to be sacrificed. It is 
evident that the yokes were intended to be placed in a 
horizontal position because there is a plain lower surface 
and the ends are frequently carved with faces that are 
right side up only when the plain side is down. These 
yokes represent the richest and most elaborate works of 
art in .the entire region since they are carved in the most 
finished manner from single blocks of exceedingly hard 
stone. 






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THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 153 

Other peculiarly shaped stones are found in the 
Totonacan area and are carved according to the same 
splendid technique. The ^'paddle-shaped" stones have 
been found in considerable numbers and their use, like 
that of the stone yokes is absolutely unknown. It is 
evident from the carving that they were intended to be 
stood on end. 

The designs on the sacrificial yokes and paddle stones 
are largely reptilian, but there are examples where the 
turkey, the coyote, as well as the human motive are 
treated somewhat after the manner of the Mayas. In 
fact there can be little doubt that the best period of 
Totonacan art corresponded pretty closely to the best 
period of Mayan art. The most important site is 
Papantla where a remarkably ornate pyramid rising in 
six terraces may be seen, as w^ell as massive sculptures in 
the same style as the works of art described above. The 
front wall of each terrace on all four sides of the pyra- 
mid, except for the space occupied by the stairway is 
divided into a series of niches neatly made of cut stone. 
Formerly each of these niches may have served to 
shelter the statue of some god. Many fine remains of 
Totonacan art have been recovered from the Island of 
Sacrifices in the harbor of Vera Cruz. This island 
retained its ancient sacrificial character in the time of 
the Spanish conquerors. It is apparent, however, that 
the culture had already changed greatly if we may 
judge by the ruins of Cempoalan, the Totonacan capital 
in the sixteenth century. The art of this city is largely 
Aztecan. 

The Toltecs. The first peoples to appear in Mexi- 
can history are the Olmecs and Toltecs. Tales of 
ancient splendor cluster about them, but there is a woe- 
ful lack of definite information concerning their origin 



154 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

and the extent of their dominion. Some authorities see 
in the Olmecs a Mayan tribe that once inhabited the 
region east and southeast of the Valley of Mexico and 
who were afterwards driven out. But it seems more 
likely that both the Olmecs and the Toltecs were tribes 
of Nahuan rather than Mayan stock and that they were 
merely the first of the Highlanders to feel the quickening 
effect of Mayan contact. Both terms were probably 
generalized by the later nations far beyond their original 
significance. The Toltecs derived their name from Tula 
or Tollan, which was only one of several cities that 
flourished during the Toltecan period. Whether all 
these cities were ever bonded into a political whole is a 
question that cannot now be answered. 

Owdng to the lack of a ''long count" the dates in 
Toltecan history are few and uncertain. The Mexican 
document with the longest range of history is the Annals 
of Quauhtitlan in which the count of years goes back in 
a practically unbroken series to 635 A.D. Still earlier 
dates are indicated. For instance, the legendary 
departure from Chicomoztoc, the Seven Caves, is 
placed for the Chichimecas as 364 years (7 x 52) before 
their settlement in 687 at Quauhtitlan. An annotation 
on the manuscript reading: "6 times 4 centuries, plus 
1 century plus 13 years, today the 22nd of May, 1558" 
has been taken to summarize the scope of the original. 
The ''centuries" are of course the native "cycles" of 
52 years and the total on this basis amounts to 1313 
years which subtracted from 1558 w^ould carry us back 
to 245 A.D. 

While this chronicle concerns itself mostly with the- 
lowly Chichimecas who did not become important until 
after the downfall of Toltecan power, still what pur- 
ports to be a genealogy of the rulers of Tula is also given. 
From other sources, such as the writings of Fernando de 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 155 

Alva Ixtlilxochitl, we are able to gain a little additional 
light on some of the Toltecan chiefs. The person of 
Quetzalcoatl in this history is endowed with super- 
natural qualities and it is not unlikely that he was a 
great religious teacher. Of course, the name is also 
applied to one of the important deities and this fact has 
doubtless led to much of the confusion that exists. 
Under Huemac, the last of the Toltecan chiefs, witch- 
craft and human sacrifice appear to have laid the ground 
for oppression and war. 

SUMMARY OF TOLTECAN HISTORY 

726 Toltecs establish their government in Cuxhuacan. 

752 Mixcoamacatzin is elected chief. 

817 Mixcoamacatzin dies and is succeeded by Huetzin. 

835 Huetzin dies and is succeeded by Ihuitimal. 

843 The miraculous birth of Quetzalcoatl takes place. 

870 Quetzalcoatl arrives at Tullanzinco and performs rites. 

873 Ihuitimal dies and Quetzalcoatl is made ruler. 

883 Quetzalcoatl, the lesser, dies. Temple building. 

895 Quetzalcoatl dies and is succeeded by Matlaxochitl who moves the 

government to Tula. 
930 Matlaxochitl dies and is followed by Nauhyotzin. 
945 Nauhyotzin is succeeded by Matlacoatzin. 
973 Matlacoatzin is succeeded by Tlilcoahuatzin. 
994 Tlilcoahuatziz dies and the famous Huemac takes the power. The 

wicked magic of his queen. 
1018 The great starvation takes place. 

1058 Many strange things happen in Tula. The demons arrive. 

1059 Two armies attack the population. Despotism begins. First 

sacrifice of nobles. 

1063 War wages. The Otomis attack — the skins of slain warriors are 

first worn. 

1064 Tula under Huemac is destroyed because of the wicked magic. 

The people disperse. 
1070 The power of Tula broken completely, Huemac commits suicide in 
Chapul tepee. 

Some authorities shift the entire series of dates in this 
summary backward one 52 year period, making the 



156 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

first date 674 A.D. and the last one 1018 A.D. This 
seems unjustifiable in view of the continuous counting 
of every 3'ear in this chronicle down to the coming of the 
Spaniards in 1519. 

Of course this summary does not actually cover the 
range of Toltecan history. Such cities as Teotihuacan 
and Xochicalco may well have seen their prime before 
Tula became important while certain other popula- 
tions such as Colhuacan, Atzcapotzalco and Cholula 
doubtless carried the civilization of the Toltecs down 
into times much later than the suicide of Huemac. 
Indeed, there is reason to believe that Teotihuacan 
was the original Tollan, and that Tula was the last 
capital of the defeated nation. Checking up Mexican 
dates with the more accurate chronology of the Mayas 
it may be pointed out that the period of Mexican 
influence in Northern Yucatan seems to have begun 
about 1200 A.D. This date is 130 years after the 
recorded downfall of Tula, yet certain structural and 
decorative details of the buildings erected at Chichen 
Itza by these foreign overlords find their closest ana- 
logues at Tula. Other details point to the somewhat 
later epoch of Tezcoco. Curiously enough, no record 
of the far-reaching conquest of Yucatan seems to have 
been preserved on the highlands of Mexico. 

Archaeology tells a more convincing tale as regards 
the Toltecs than does history herself. In the stratified 
remains at Atzcapotzalco the objects made by the 
Toltecs overlie those of the first potters of the Archaic 
Period and are in striking contrast to them. The prin- 
cipal motives seen in Toltecan decorative art owe an 
obvious debt to the earlier and more brilliant work of 
the Mayas. 

The pyramids of the Toltecs exceed in size those of 
the Mayas, but are of inferior construction, adobe bricks 







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158 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

with concrete facings taking the place of rubble and 
cut stone. The temples that crowned these pyramids 
were also of less solid character and no single example 
is now intact. Vaulted ceilings do not appear to have 
been used, but instead flat, timbered ceilings or high 
p'tched roofs of thatch. Sometimes two or more 
columns were placed within the room to support the roof 
beams. The groundplans of buildings other than 
temples, show small rooms arranged in an irregular 
fashion around courts. 

A ceremonial game that resembled basket ball was 
an important feature of Toltecan religion. Two rings 
were set vertically in the walls that flanked a level 
space and the object of the game was to make the rub- 
ber ball pass through one of the rings. This sacred 
game spread far and wide. It was introduced into 
northern Yucatan and the most elaborate ball court of 
all was built at Chichen Itza. Another special feature 
of Toltecan religion was the worship of the sun disk 
which was passed on to the later civilizations of Mexico, 
and which likewise was carried to Yucatan. Prayers 
are commonly represented in Toltecan sculptures by the 
device of the '^speech scroll" which issues from the 
mouth o he speaker and pictures forth what his 
desires are. 

Xochicalco. Let us now pass over in brief review 
several ruins which belong to the Toltecan period. 
Xochicalco, the House of the Flowers, is a large ruin 
near Cuernavaca. The position seems to have been 
chosen primarily for defense. The rounded ridge that 
drops off into deep valleys on either side is laid out in 
courts, terraces, and pyramids. Only one building 
offers evidence of the sculptural skill of the ancient 
habitants. It is a temple, standing upon a rather low 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 159 

platform mound. The sides of the platform mound 
are decorated with great plumed serpents, seated human 
figures, hieroglyphs, etc. Parts of the sculptures also 
remain on the low walls of the temples ' itself which is 
now roofless. The stone carving at Xochicalco re- 
sembles that of Monte Alban especially as regards the 
hieroglyphs. 

San Juan Teotihuacan. The great ruin of 
Teotihuacan is located on the eastern margin of the 
Valley of Mexico. The principal features of Teotihua- 
can are two great pyramids and a straight roadway lined 
with small pyramids. There are also several groups 
of buildings of which the lower walls and the bases of the 
piers are still to be seen as well as some interesting 
fragments of fresco painting. The smaller of the two 
great pyramids is called the Pyramid of the Moon. 
It is located at the end of the roadway which is com- 
monly called the Pathway of the Dead. The Pyramid 
of the Sun is situated on the east side of the roadway. 
This pyramid is about 180 feet in height and rises in 
four sloping terraces. The temple which formerly 
crowned its summit has entirely disappeared. Explo- 
rations conducted by the Mexican government showed 
that this pyramid was enlarged from time to time and 
old stairways buried under new masonry. On the 
south side of the small stream that flows through the 
ruins is a group of buildings called the Citadel. 

In 1921 the Mexican Government provided funds for 
a restoration of the Citadel under the direction of 
Doctor Manuel Gamio, following the discovery by him 
of remarkable sculptures on the principal pyramid. It 
appears that in ancient times this pyramid was enlarged 
by an addition to one side and the richly ornamented 
terraces and stairw^ay buried (Plate XXXII). The 








[h] 

Plate XXXII. Two views of the Principal Pyramid in the Citadel 

at Teotihuacan. (a) General View of the original mass of the pyramid 

at the back with the reconstructed addition in front. (b) View of 

stairway and various walls covered up and preserved by the addition. 



160 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 161 

sculptured stones from the other three sides of the 
temple were allowed to fall into neglect by the Toltecs 
or were carried away and put to other uses, but the 
portion buried was kept in its original state. The colors 
are still bright in many places and the great heads of 
plumed serpents and obsidian butterflies sometimes re- 
tain their inset eyes of obsidian. The decoration is a 
repeated motive. The head of the feathered serpent 
projects outward from the terrace walls and from the 
balustrade of the stairway, while the body is in low re- 
lief. The tail of the serpent has a rattle, and the body is 
covered with feathers. Shells are seen below the serpent 
where the body arches and just in front of the tail is a 
massive head with two rings on the frontal which doubt- 
less represents the Obsidian Butterfly, a divinity of great 
importance among the Toltecs, which is represented un- 
mistakably in frescoes at Teotihuacan as well as on 
pottery. The Citadel well deserves its name, since it is 
a great enclosure, much like a fort, with buildings upon 
its bulwarks, and with steep outer walls, which could 
easily be defended. 

A few large sculptures have been found at Teoti- 
huacan. But the site is chiefly remarkable for pottery 
figurines and heads that are picked up by thousands. 
The heads present such a marked variety of facial 
contour and expression that it would seem as if every 
race under the sun had served as models. It is very 
likely that these heads formed part of votive offerings, 
beings attached to bodies made of some perishable 
material. The heads were seldom used to adorn pottery 
vessels, although many modern and fraudulent vases 
are so adorned. Dolls with head and torso in one piece 
and with movable arms and legs made of separate pieces 
were known. The face of Tlaloc, the Rain God, is 
fairly common in Teotihuacan pottery but other deities 



162 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



have not surely been identified. It is not improbable 
that the God of Fire is personified as an old man with 
wrinkled face, but somewhat less likely that Xipe is 
represented in the faces that look out through the three 
holes of a mask. The jaguar, the 
monkey, the owl, and other animals 
are also modeled with excellent fidel- 
ity. The Mayan convention of the 
human face in the open jaws of the 
serpent is not unknown. 

A number of beautiful vases 
painted in soft greens, pinks, and 
yellows have been recovered at 
Teotihuacan. These colors would 
not stand the kiln and they were 
applied after the vessel had been 
burned. According to one method, 
the outside of the vessel was 
covered with a fine coating of 
plaster upon which the design was 
painted exactly as in fresco. Ac- 
cording to a second method the 
effect of cloisonne was cleverly 
achieved. This technique is most 
characteristic of the region northwest of the Valley 
of Mexico and will be described later. Incised or en- 
graved designs are commonly met with on pottery 
vessels at Teotihuacan. 

Tqla. The ancient city of Tula or Tollan, the 
Place of the Reeds, is situated about fifty miles north of 
Mexico City. Building stone of good quality was avail- 
able at this site and in consequence sculptures are more 
plentiful than at Teotihuacan. Particularly famous are 
the great sculptured columns which represent feathered 
serpents and gigantic human figures. The drums are 




Fig. 55. Jointed 
Doll of Clav from San 
Juan Teotihuacan. 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 163 

mostly mortised and the columns are crowned by true 
capitals. These architectural features at Tula find their 
closest counterpart at the Mayan city of Chichen Itza 
in northern Yucatan. The tlachtli or ball court occurs 
at Tula and the groundplans of complicated "palaces" 
can also be made out. 

Cholula. The sacred city of Cholula, in the en- 
virons at Puebla, is chiefly famous for its great pyramid. 
This structure is more or less irregular in shape but the 




Fig. 56. Pottery Plates from Cholula with Decorations in Several 
Colors. The pottery of Cholula ranks high in design and color. 

base averages more than a thousand feet on the side and 
the total height, now somewhat reduced, was probably 
close to two hundred feet above the plain. Compared 
with the Pyramid of Cheops, it covers nearly twice as 
much ground and has a much greater volume, but lacks 
of course, in height.' As already noted, the pyramids of 
the New World are simply foundations for temples and 
thus always have flat tops. The great mound of Cholu- 
la is a solid mass of adobe bricks of uniform size laid in 
adobe mortar. The pyramid was evidently faced with 
a thick layer of cement of which a few patches still 





[t'\ 

Plate XXXIII. (a) Partial View of the Great Pyramid at Cholula 
which rises from the Level Plain in Three Broad Terraces. A Spanish 
church has been built upon the top of this pyramid and a roadway 
leads up the badly eroded mound. (6) A View at La Quemada. 
Cylindrical columns built up of slabs of stone supported the roofs of 
some of the structures. The use of columns was characteristic of late 
Toltecan times. 

164 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 165 

remain. Two other large mounds exist at Cholula. One 
of these has been partially destroyed and now stands as 
a vertical mass of adobe bricks while the other is over- 
grown with brush and cactus. 

Unlike the other Toltecan cities Cholula was still in- 
habited and a place of religious importance when Cortez 
arrived in Mexico. But the figurines and pottery ves- 
sels that are found at this site belong for the most part 
to an epoch earlier than that of the Aztecs. Quetzal- 
coatl was the patron deity of Cholula and in the decor- 
ative art the serpent is finely conventionalized. A pot- 
tery shape frequently met with at Cholula is the flat 
plate bearing polychrome designs. 

The Frontier Cities of the Northwest. An im- 
portant culture area is located upon the northwestern 
limits of the area of high culture in ancient Mexico. 
The best known and most accessible ruin is La Quema- 
da, ''The Burned" which is situated a day's ride from 
the city of Zacatecas. This site was found in a de- 
serted and ruinous condition by the Spaniards in 1535 
and there is little doubt that it had been abandoned 
several centuries previous. La Quemada has been 
popularly associated with Chicomoztoc, ''The Seven 
Caves," a place famous in Aztecan mythology, but this 
association rests upon no scientific basis. It is simply 
an unauthoritative attempt to invest a forgotten city 
with a legendary interest. Chicomoztoc, where the 
Aztecs came out of the underworld might be compared 
with our own Garden of Eden and its exact location is 
just as much an eternal riddle. La Quemada is a ter- 
raced hill resembling Monte Alban and Xochicalco. 
The retaining walls of terraces and pyramids as well 
as the walls of buildings are still well preserved. These 
walls consist of slabs of stone set in a mortar of red 



166 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

earth. Perhaps the most noteworthy structure is a 
wide hall containing seven columns built of slabs of 
stone in the same manner as the walls. All in all the 
architectural types as well as the observed contacts in 
art point to a late epoch of the Toltecan period. Other 
ruins of the same character as La Quemada occur at 
Chalchihuites on the frontier of Durango and at 
Totoate, etc., in northern Jalisco. 

The most important artistic product from this north- 
western region is a peculiar kind of pottery which might 
be described as cloisonne or encaustic ware. Exam- 
ination shows that this pottery was first burned in the 
usual way so that it acquired a red or orange color. 
Then the surface was covered with a layer of greenish or 
blackish pigment to the depth of perhaps a sixteenth of 
an inch. A large part of this surface layer was then 
carefully cut away with a sharp blade in such a way that 
the remaining portions outlined certain geometric and 
realistic figures. The sunken spaces, from which the 
material had just been removed, were then filled in 
flush with red, yellow, white, and green pigments. The 
designs on this class of pottery are thus mosaics in which 
the different colors are separated by narrow lines of a 
neutral tint. The geometric motives show a marked use 
of the terrace, the fret, and the scroll. The realistic sub- 
jects are presented in a highly conventionalized manner 
and have few stylistic similarities to the figures from the 
Valley of Mexico. Representative collections of this 
ware from Totoate, already referred to, and from 
Estanzuela, a hacienda near Guadalajara are on exhibi- 
tion in the American Museum of Natural History. 

Cloisonne pottery of a somewhat different style 
sometimes occurs at Toltecan sites in the Valley of 
Mexico, such as Tula, Teotihuacan, and Atzcapotzalco, 
but fresco pottery which resembles it at first glance is 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 167 

more characteristic. It appears that the cloisonne 
process was taken over from the embellishment of 
gourd dishes in connection with which it still exists 
over a large part of Mexico and Central America. 
Another method of decoration taken over from gourds 
was that of negative painting similar to the process used 
with cloth in making batik designs. This process still 




Fig. 57. Vessel with "Cloisonne" Decoration in Heavy Pigments. 
This example comes from a mound at Atzcapotzalco and dates from 
late Toltecan times. Trade pieces of this ware have been, found at 
Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico and Chichen Itza in Yucatan. 

exists in Central America as regards gourd dishes al- 
though discontinued on pottery.. Negative painting ap- 
pears to be an ancient process of exceedingly wide 
distribution. It is especially common in Jalisco and 
Michoacan, the Valley of Toluca, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, 
Panama, and Colombia, and sometimes occurs in 
Yucatan and Peru. The design was painted in wax or 
some other soluble or combustible paint, then the 
entire surface was covered with a permanent paint. 



168 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



When the pot was burned the design came out in the 
natural color of the clay against a black, or sometimes a 
red field. The design was often made two layers deep 
by applying simple masses of red over the sizing before 
the imi^ermanent paint of the design proper was put on. 





mm 



Fig. 58. The Turtle Motive as developed in Negative Painting with 
Wax at Totoate, Jalisco. 

In the northwestern region of central Mexico now under 
consideration the negative painting technique is asso- 
ciated with conventionalized designs representing tur- 
tles (Fig. 58). Another ware with designs in white is 
concerned with derivatives of the turtle motive. Then 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 



169 



in T?l 






there are the remarkable copper bells in the form of 
turtles made by coilmg, that have been found in 
nearby Michoacan. 

It is difficult to place 
time limits for the ar- 
tistic styles that once 
existed in this north- 
western region. The 
archaic culture seems 
to have lasted longer 
here than farther south ; 
next followed the north- 
ern flow of Toltecan 
culture which later re- 
ceded and finally came 
a rather thin layer of 
Chichimecan or Az- 
tecan culture. We may 
tentatively conclude 
that the forgotten cities 

of the Zacatecan subculture flourished after 1000 A. D. 
The question should be settled because of its connection 
with the dating of Pueblo ruins farther north. 

Santa Lucia Cozumalhualpa. The peculiar 
stone sculptures of Santa Lucia Cozumalhualpa and a 
number of adjacent sites in southern Guatemala and 
western Salvador have been accredited to the Pipiles, a 
southern Nahuan tribe. This local culture probably 
flourished long after the Mayan cities of the south had 
been abandoned and while the Toltecs in the north were 
at the height of their power. The art shows many fea- 
tures similar to that of the Mexican highlands. Human 
sacrifice is prominently figured in the sculptures. 
There are also scrolls which issue from the mouths and 



Fig. 59. Jaguar Head on Disk- 
Shaped Stone. Salvador. 




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3 




Plate XXXIV. Stone Slab from an Ancient 
Sepulcher in the State of Guerrero. The face at 
the top apparently represents a monkey, but 
serpents have been introduced between the eyes 
and the eyebrows. The other highly convention- 
alized faces are probably those of serpents. 
170 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 171 

stand for speech. Divinities are sometimes shown at 
the tops of the sculptured slabs in the mouths of rep- 
tiles and to these divinities the priests standing below 
make offerings. 

A peculiar type of pottery centered in southern 
Guatemala and western Salvador from which region it 
was distributed far and wide by trade. Although a few 
examples of this ware are found at Copan it is clear from 
the designs that most of the pieces belong to a time 
subsequent to the abandonment of this Mayan city. 
The ware has a semi-glaze which is the result of lead 
in the clay. Because paint could not be applied to this 
ware, the esthetic idea of shape was allowed to develop 
itself without hindrance. 

The Chorotegan Culture. Passing south from 
the Mayan area we find in Salvador and Central 
Honduras archaeological objects that can hardly be 
distinguished from the classical products of Copan. 
Still farther south remains are found of a rich and in 
many ways peculiar art — consisting almost entirely of 
pottery and minor stone carvings — that centers about 
the southern end of Lake Nicaragua and the Gulf of 
Nicoya. It may be ascribed principally to tribes speak- 
ing the Chiapanecan language and it may be fittingly 
called Chorotegan after one of the principal tribes. 

Close analysis shows that many of the decorative 
motives in Chorotegan art were developed from those 
of the Mayas. The serpent and the monkey furnish 
the majority of the designs that are surely Mayan but 
each of these is carried so far away from the original 
that only an expert can see the connections. The arms 
and legs of the monkeys are lengthened and given an 
extra number of joints while the heads degenerate into 
circles. The tongues of the serpents are elongated and 



172 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



bent downward at the end. All the open spaces are 
treated with scallops or fringes of short lines. 

There is also in Chorotegan art a crocodilian motive 
that may be peculiar to the Isthmian region although 
it has Mayan affinities. The jaguar is also important 
in this ancient art. Among the most interesting vases 



» 


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fck^ 


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I 




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Fig. 60. Front View and Profile View Serpent Heads in Chorote- 
gan Art. Although derived from Mayan models they have under- 
gone great changes and have become highly conventionalized. 

are those that have a modeled head projecting from one 
side (jaguar, monkey, or bird) and two of the three 
legs of the vessel modified into animal legs. On these 
elaborate vessels there are bands of painted decoration 
mostly concerned with the crocodile. 

The extremely elaborate metates (stones upon which 
maize was ground) from southern Nicaragua and north- 
ern Costa Rica probably were made by the producers of 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 



173 



the peculiar pottery art already described. These were 
carved out of solid blocks of lava with stone tools. 
It is not unlikely that these elaborate metates were used 
as ceremonial seats since few of them show signs of use. 




Fig. 61. Jaguar design with Mayan affinities associated with Fi§ 
urines that still retain Archaic Characters. Costa Rica. 




Fig 62. Jaguars from painted Nicoyan Vases 



The jaguar is perhaps the most common motive used 
in the decoration of these metates. The back is broad 
and slightly dished, the head projects from the center 
of one end and the tail swings in a curve from the other 
end to one of the feet. 








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THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 



175 



At Mercedes remarkable stone slabs were found dur- 
ing the excavations conducted by Mr. Minor C. Keith. 
These are now on exhibition in the American Museum 
of Natural History. The sculptures in relief on these 
slabs are by all odds the finest from the Isthmian area. 
Human beings, crocodiles, monkeys and birds are all 
used to decorate these carefully and laboriously made 
pieces whose use is entirely unknown. Statues in the 
full round have also been unearthed in quantity at Mer- 
cedes which gives every evidence of having been a large 
city with a long career. 



^SJ 





d";'cj 





Fig. 63. Highly Conventionalized Jaguar Motive. The principal 
features of the head as well as the outline of the leg survive in highly 
modified form. From the southern end of Lake Nicaragua. 



We may be reasonably sure that the stone slabs date 
from a fairly late epoch because an undoubted ''Chac- 
mool" exhibiting the same style of carving has been dis- 
covered here. The ''Chacmool," a half recUning figure 
with the knees drawn up, the body supported in part 
upon the elbows and a bowl for incense or other offer- 
ings in the pit of the stomach, gets its fanciful name 
from Le Plongeon who discovered the original at Chi- 
chen Itza. But the unmistakable sculptures of this 
type were apparently developed by the highland tribes 
and the cult was introduced into northern Yucatan dur- 



176 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



ing the period of Mexican influence. In addition to 
Chichen Itza examples have been found at Cempoalan, 
the historic Totonacan capital near Vera Cruz, at 




^=e 






^^^"y^ 



c-r)V(?i_n 



C_r\rD 



^^Xg>^ 



Fig. 64. Simple Crocodile Figures in Red Lines on Dishes from 
Mercedes, Costa Rica. 







Fig. 65. Panels containing Crocodiles painted in White Lines on 
Large Tripod Bowls from Mercedes, Costa Rica. 




^<3>2if 



Fig. 66. Simplified Crocodile Heads in the Yellow Line Ware of 
Mercede?^, Costa Rica. 



Tezcoco, in the Valley of Mexico, at Jhuatzio in the 
Tarascan region, as well as at Ahuachapan far to the 
southeast in Salvador. All of these occurrences indicate 
a late Toltecan horizon for its distribution. 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 



177 



Isthmian Gold Work. The 'Svire technique" of 
the gold art of the Isthmian region, repeats, as we have 
seen, the pottery technique of the Archaic Horizon. In 
addition to plain and hollow casting, two kinds of gold 
plating were carried to perfection by the ancient metal 
workers : one a heavy plating over copper and the other 
a thin gilding. The manner in which this plating was 




''^^m^m^ 



Fig. 67. Conventional Crocodiles from Costa Rica and Panama. 

done is still uncertain. It has been suggested that the 
molds were lined with leaf gold or sprinkled with gold 
dust before the baser copper was poured in. Many 
ornaments are of pure beaten gold and have designs in 
repousse. 

The gold objects are found in stone box graves along 
with pottery and stone carvings. Gold is taken from 
only a small percentage of the graves, probably those of 
chiefs. A systematic rifling of the ancient cemeteries 





Plate XXXVI. (n) The Clold Work of the Ancient Mexicans excited 
the Wonder of the Spanish Conquerors. Comparatively few examples, 
however, have come down to us; (h) Many Ornaments of Gold are found 
in the Graves of Costa Rica and Panama. The Keith Collection con- 
tains a very fine series of these pieces illustrating all the forms as well as 
the technical processes. 



THE MIDDLE CIVILIZATIONS 179 

has been going on since the arrival of the Spaniards, but 
the finds have mostly been thrown into the melting pot. 
The burial places are sometimes marked by low plat- 
forms built over a group of graves. An iron rod, giving 
forth a hollow sound when the stone cysts are struck, is 
used by the searchers. Human bones are found in these 
graves, but seldom in a state of good preservation. 

Mr. Minor C. Keith's collection of gold work from 
Costa Rica and Panama is unexcelled and illustrates 
the range of technical processes as well as of ornamental 
forms. Human forms are represented with peculiar 
"headdresses and with various objects carried in the 
hands and often they are joined in pairs. Many of the 
most beautiful amulets are frogs arranged either singly 
or in groups of two or three. These figures are all pro- 
vided with a ring on the under side for suspension. 
Lizards, turtles, and crocodiles are frequently modeled 
as well as clam shells, crabs, and monkeys. But per- 
haps the most frequent amulets are those that picture 
birds with outspread wings among which may be 
recognized vultures, harpy eagles, gulls, man-of-war 
birds, and parrots. The larger and more elaborate 
pieces of gold work cast considerable light on the ancient 
religion of the natives since beast gods are figured in 
half human form. Bells of copper and gold were much 
used in gala dress and were doubtless an object of trade 
with the tribes farther north. 

In this consideration of the lesser civiHzations that 
are mostly to be attributed to the stimulus furnished by 
the Mayas we have been carried forward in time until 
arrived at a point where tradition and ethnology begin 
to relieve the burden of proof that has hitherto been 
placed on archaeology. We will now devote most of 
our attention to belief and ceremony as given first hand 
rather than to assumptions from art. 





Plate XXXVII. A Page from the Tribute Roll of Moctezuma, show- 
ing the Annual Tribute of the Eleven Towns pictured at the Bottom and 
right. The tribute consisted of: (a) Two strings of jade beads; (b) 
Twenty gourd dishes of gold dust; (c) A royal headdress; (d) Eight 
hundred bunches of feathers: (e) Forty bags of cochineal dye; (f-g) 
Warrior's costumes; (/;) Four hundred and two blankets of this pattern; 
(i) Four hundred blankets; (j) Four hundred and four blankets; (A-) 
Four hundred blankets. The towns are: (1) Coaxalahuacan; (2) 
Texopan; (3) Tamozolapan; (4) Yancuitlan; (5) Tezuzcululan; (6) 
Nochistlan; (7) Xaltepec; (8) Tamazolan; (9) Mictlan (Mitla); (lOj 
Coaxomulcu; (11) Cuicatlan, in the State of Oaxaca. 

180 



Chapter IV 
THE AZTECS 

THE Aztecs were the dominant nation on the high- 
lands of Mexico when Cortez marched with his 
small army to conquer New Spain. The horrible 
sacrifices that they made to their gods and the wealth 
and barbaric splendor of their rulers have often been de- 
scribed. But their history in point of time covered 
short space and their art and religion was based in a 
large measure on achievements of the nations that had 
preceded them. 

Mayas and Aztecs compared to Greeks and 
Romans. A remarkably close analogy may be drawn 
between the Mayas and Aztecs in the New World 
and the Greeks and Romans in the Old, as regards 
character, achievements, and relations one to the 
other. The" Mayas, like the Greeks, were an artistic 
and intellectual people who developed sculpture, 
painting, architecture, astronomy, and other arts 
and sciences to a high plane. Politically, both were 
divided into communities or states that bickered 
and quarreled. There were temporary leagues between 
certain cities, but real unity only against a common 
enemy. Culturally, both were one people, ;'n spite of 
dialectic differences, for the warring factions were 
bound together by a common religion and a common 
thought. To be sure the religion of the Mayas w^as 
much more barbaric than that of the Greeks but 
in each case the subject matter was idealized and 
beautified in art. 

The Aztecs, like the Romans, were a brusque and war- 
like people who built upon the ruins of an earlier civili- 
zation that fell before the force of their arms and who 

181 







Plate XXXVIII. Page from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis show- 
ing a Native Manuscript with Ex]3hcation by the Spaniards. The 
death of Chimalpopoca and the election of his successor, Itzcouatl, 
is recorded, as well as the capture of Atzcapotzalco. 



182 



THE AZTECS 183 

made their most notable contributions to organization 
and government. The Toltecs stand just beyond the 
foreline of Aztecan history and may fitly be compared 
to the Etruscans. They were the possessors of a culture 
derived in part from their brilliant contemporaries that 
was magnified to true greatness by their ruder suc- 
cessors. 

The Chichimecas. The term Chichimecas was ap- 
plied by the more civilized tribes of the Mexican high- 
lands to those nomads outside the pale who dressed in 
skins and hunted with the bow and arrow. Some of 
these wandering groups spoke Nahuan dialects, but the 
term was also applied to the Otomis who spoke a dis- 
tinct language. Possibly through having been reduced 
in war certain of these wandering groups were drawn 
into civilization and when the Toltecan cities began to 
decline, they advanced to considerable power and pres- 
tige. In fact, the Aztecs may be considered as originally 
Chichimecan, although several other tribes got an 
earlier start. In later times, these city-broken nomads 
looked back with considerable pride on their lowly 
origin. 

The Chichimecan histories contain numerous genea- 
logical lists of the ruling houses in different towns and 
settlements. The most valuable document is the 
Annals of Quauhtitlan that has already received some 
attention for its references to Toltecan rulers. Quauh- 
titlan itself was confessedly one of the seats of the 
Chichimecas and its recorded history goes back to 
Chicontonatiuh who began his rule in 687 A. D. and died 
in 751. After the death of this chief there was an inter- 
regnum till Tactli formed a government in 804. He 
also had a long reign and the chronicle naively states :- — 

''In this same year (10 House, 865) died TactU who 
was the king of Quauhtitlan where he reigned 62 years : 



184 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

he was a king unacquainted with the sowing of grain for 
food neither did he know how to make shelters for his 
subjects. He wore only a simple garb. The people ate 
only birds, serpents, rabbits and deer : as yet they had 
no houses and came and went in all directions." The 
early life in the open is pictured interestingly in several 
other documents including the Map of Tlotzin and the 
Map of Quinatzin. 

We have already seen how the splendid culture of the 
Toltecan cities broke down under the weight of decad- 
ence and ci\'il war during the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries A.D. To be sure, Cholula appears to have 
kept alive the flame of Toltecan religion and art up to 
the advent of the Spaniards. Perhaps Atzcapotzalco 
and other towns near the lakes that had been established 
during the Toltecan period were able to hold their own 
for a time against the newer order. But the sturdy 
Chichimecas made rapid progress. Tezcoco became 
their most prominent city only to be eclipsed by Tenoch- 
titlan, the island capital of the Aztecs. 

Aztecan History. The history of the Aztecs has a 
mythological preamble in common with other nations of 
Mexico. The Chicomoztoc or Seven Caves must not be 
considered historical but simply man's place of emer- 
gence from the underworld. The general conception of 
an existence within the earth that preceded the exist- 
ence upon the earth is found very widely among North 
American Indians. It is likewise impossible to locate 
the Island of Aztlan, that served, according to several 
codices, as the starting place of the Mexican migration. 
The northern origin for the Aztecan tribe to which so 
much attention has been paid need not have been far 
from the Valley of Mexico, since in their entire recorded 
peregrination they hardly traveled eighty miles. 



THE AZTECS 



185 



Owing to the ineffectiveness of the Mexican time 
count Aztecan chronology is far from fixed. The year 
was known by the day with which it began and as this 
day ran the permutation of four names and thirteen 
numbers of cycle was fifty-two years in length. No 
method of keeping the cycles in their proper order seems 
to have been devised except the laborious one of put- 
ting down every year in sequence whether or not an 
event occurred in it. Unfortunately, not even the 
latter method was used in any far-reaching chronicle 
except the Annals of Quauhtitlan. According to 
different authorities the year 1 Stone which begins the 
historical account in the Aubin Codex was 648, 1064, 
or 1168 in the European calendar, each date differing 
from the others by multiples of fifty-two years. 

The wandering tribes, among which may be men- 
tioned the Chalca, Xochimilca, Tlahuica, Huexotzinca, 
Tepaneca, and Azteca, pushed their way 
into the region of the lakes and made 
settlements in less desirable locations. 
Meanwhile, they served as vassals to 
the established tribes. The "peregrina- 
tions" relate the succession of stops 
and the length of each stop. The Az- 
tecs themselves made twenty or more 
stops lasting from two to twenty years. 
Finally they took refuge on two islands 
in Lake Tezcoco and lived a miserable 
existence among the reeds. They joined 
with the Tepanecas and by yeoman ser- 
vice gained their aid and friendship. 

The date for the foundation of Teno- 
chtitlan (Mexico City) is usually given 
as 1325. About 1350 water rights were 
gained at the spring of Chapultepec . This 




Fig. 68. Picto- 
graphic Record 
of the Conquest 
of the Springs 
of Chapultepec, 
"Hill of the 
Grasshopper." 
Aubin Codex. 



r> W^ ^ifS^ 






t 



HJ*^ 



i 



r^ 



\ 



■t:> ■ 


^\- 




! 


*. 





1 



■'%:' 



>'i 




H 



_r P f3 



Ph 



pa CD 



w a 



^ > !C 



THE AZTECS 187 

was an important gain because the brackish waters of 
the lake were not fit to drink. A double water main of 
terra cotta was laid from the springs to the town. New 
land was made, probably after the manner still to be 
seen in the famous floating gardens of Xochimilco by 
throwing the soil from the bed of the shallow lake into 
enclosed areas of wattle work. Gradually a Venice- 
like city, traversed by canals and admirably protected 
from attack, rose from the lake. At the coming of the 
Spaniards there were three causeways leading to the 
shores of the lake and each of these was protected by 
drawbridges. There was a city wall upon which were 
lighthouses for the guidance of homecoming fishermen. 
There were palaces and market places and a great 
central plaza called the Tecpan, where were situated the 
principal temples. 

The Spaniards destroyed the ancient city, blocking up 
the canals with the debris of temples, and building the 
new City of Mexico over the leveled ruins. Ancient relics 
are brought to light wherever excavations are made. In 
1900 many sculptures and ceremonial objects were un- 
covered in Escalerillas street near the Cathedral. 
Recently a building near the National Museum was 
torn down for replacement and in digging for new 
foundations part of the base of the great pyramid was 
found. This had been enlarged several times, as could 
be seen by the stairways successively buried under new 
walls. At the bottom of the balustrade of one stairway 
a great serpent head of stone was found in its original 
position (Plate XXXIX). 

The Aztecs count their history as a great people 
from their first war chief Acamapichtli who commenced 
his rule in 1376 (Codex Aubin). The names and the 



188 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

order of the succeeding war chiefs is the same in several 
records, but the dates are found to vary slightly. 



Aoamapichtli 


1376-1396 


Huitzilihuitl 


1396-1417 


Chimalpopoca 


1417-1427 


Itzcouatl 


1427-1440 


Moctezuma I 


1440-1469 


Axayacatl 


1469-1482 


Tizoc 


1482-1486 


Ahuitzotl 


1486-1502 


Moctezuma II 


1502-1520 


Cuitlahua 


1520 


Cuauhtemoc 


1520-1521 



After throwing off the yoke of their early overlords, 
the Tepanecas, bj^ the subjection of Atzcapotzalco at the 
beginning of the brilliant reign of Itzcouatl, the Aztecs 
of Tenochtitlan entered into a three-cornered league 
with Tezcoco and Tlacopan (Tacuba). This was an 
offensive and defensive alliance with an equal division 
of the spoils of war. Soon the united power of these 
three cities dominated the Valley of Mexico and began 
to be felt across the mountains on every side. Tenoch- 
titlan gradually assumed the commanding position in 
the league, and although Tezcoco continued to be an im- 
portant center the third member was apparently much 
reduced. The great votive stone of Tizoc records some 
of the earlier conquests of the Aztecs. At the arrival of 
Cortez only a few important cities such as Tlaxcala 
retained their independence. But the crest of power 
had then been passed and it seems pretty certain that 
the remarkable city in the lake would in time have 
suffered the fate of other self-constituted capitals both 
in the Old World and the New. 

Social Organization. Spanish historians often 
liken Tenochtitlan to the seat of an empire and speak of 
the ruler as one who had the power of an absolute mon- 



THE AZTECS 189 

arch while other and more recent writers have declared 
that the tribal organization of the Aztecs was essenti- 
ally democratic. The truth doubtless lies between 
these extremes. The people were warlike by nature and 
all men, except a few of the priesthood, were soldiers. 
Honors depended largely upon success in war and war- 
riors were arranged in ranks according to their deeds. 
The common warriors formed one rank and next came 
those who had distinguished themselves by definite 
achievements which gave the right to wear certain arti- 
cles of dress or to bear certain titles. The chiefs were 
elected for an indefinite term of office from the most 
distinguished fighters and could be removed for cause. 
But while the offices of state were elective there was, 
nevertheless, a tendency to choose from certain power- 
ful families and at least the foundation of an aristo- 
cratic policy. A chief was succeeded by his son or 
brother except when these candidates were manifestly 
unfit. In the actual succession of the great war chiefs 
of Tenochtitlan, a peculiar system seems to have been 
followed in that the candidates from the older genera- 
tion were ordinarily exhausted before the next lower 
generation became eligible. Thus Huitzilihuitl, Chimal- 
popoca, and Itzcouatl were all sons of Acamapichtli, and 
the last and greatest was born of a slave mother. Then 
followed Moctezuma Ilhuicamina I, the son of Huitzili- 
huitl. This chief had no male heirs but the children of 
his daughter ruled in order: Axayacatl, Tizoc, and 
Ahuitzotl. Moctezuma II was the son of the first of 
these as was Cuitlahua, while Cuauhtemoc, the last 
Aztec ruler, was the son of Ahuitzotl. This peculiar 
succession was not in vogue in Tezcoco, where son suc- 
ceeded father and the lawful wife was chosen from the 
royalty of Tenochtitlan. In the various annals, the 
genealogies are often indicated and the evidence that 



190 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

aristocracies existed is too strong to be overthrown. 
There are even cases of queens who succeeded to the 
chief power after the death of the royal husband. 

It is extremely doubtful whether the Aztecs ever had 
what might be called clans. We have seen that there 
were originally eight closely related tribes constituting 
the Mexicani or Mexican nation. The Aztecs them- 
selves are said to have been divided into seven groups 
that were first reduced to four or five and then increased 
to about twenty. It is not clear that these were 
exogamic kinship groups. They were probably mili- 
tary societies taking into their membership all the men 
of the tribe. The name Calpolli, or "great house," 
which was applied to them seems to have referred to a 
sort of barracks or general meeting place in each ward 
or division of the city where arms and trophies were kept 
and the youth educated in the art of war. The title in 
land was held by the calpolli and the right of use distrib- 
uted among the heads of families who held possession 
only so long as the land was worked. Each calpolli 
seems to have had a certain autonomy in governmental 
matters as well as a local religious organization. It is 
curious to find in Salvador, far to the south, the word 
calpolli applied to the platform mounds that surround 
courts in the ancient ruins. This use of the word may 
indicate that the "great houses" of the different soci- 
eties were ordinarily the principal buildings of the city 
and that they were used for civil, military, and religious 
purposes. 

In forming judgment on the fundamentals of social 
organization among the Aztecs we must remember that 
no clear case of kinship clans has been reported south of 
the area of the United States. Among the Cakchiquels, 
a Mayan tribe of the Guatemalan highlands, two royal 
houses are reported from which the ruling chief was al- 



THE AZTECS 191 

ternately drawn. The Zotzils have been explained as a 
bat clan because their name is associated with the word 
for bat and because a bat god appears to have been their 
patron deity. The Mazatecas and Mixtecas, Deer 
people and Cloud people, also have clanlike names but 
in all cases these are designations of entire tribes, not of 
Subdivisions of tribes. 

Tenochtitlan was divided into four quarters and each 
quarter subdivided into a number of wards. An under 
chief was elected from each of the subdivisions which are 
doubtless to be identified with the calpolli, and an over 
chief from each of the four quarters. Above these stood 
the war chief of the entire tribe who was likewise 
elected, but within the limits of a fixed aristocracy. A 
second great chief, who seems to have been a peace 
officer with some important relation to the priesthood, 
was nominally equal to the war chief, but practically 
much less powerful. The real center of the home 
government was a council made up of all the chiefs. In 
time of war the war chief was in supreme command and 
could either delegate his rights or act in person. Just 
how much the priesthood intervened in governmental 
affairs cannot be definitely put in words, but their 
power was doubtless great. Certain lands were culti- 
vated in common for the officers of church and state and 
much of the tribute from conquered provinces was 
devoted to their needs. 

The Tecpan or Temple Enclosure. The cere- 
monial center of Tenochtitlan has been transformed 
into the civic center of Mexico City. The Cathedral, the 
National Palace, and the Zocolo, or Plaza Major, mark 
the site where once stood the famous Tecpan or temple 
enclosure. Within the serpent walls, according to 
Sahagun, there were twenty-five temple pyramids, five 




,,'r^yS-- 



Plate XL. Sahagun's Plan of the Tecpan in Mexico City. 
After Seler. Among the details shown are* (a) The two great temples; 
(b) the Quauhxicalli or eagle bowl; (c) One of the Callimecatl, or priest 
houses; (e) An eagle house or warriors' shrine; (/) The Teotlachtli or 
ball court of the gods; (g) Tzompantli or skull rack; (h) The temple of 
Xipi; {%) The Temalacatl or Gladiator Stone; (k) The Colhuacan 
Teocalli or temple of Colhuacan; (Z-??i) The gods 5 Lizard and 5 House 
respectively; (n) Dance courts; (o) Coatenamitl or Serpent Wall, so 
called because it was decorated with heads of serpents. 

{ 192 



THE AZTECS 193 

oratories, sundry fasting houses, four bowl-shaped 
stones, one disk-shaped stone, a great stepped altar, a 
''star column," seven skull racks, two ball courts, two 
enclosed areas, a well, three bathing places, two cellar- 
like rooms, a dancing place, nine priest houses, a prison 
, for the gods of conquered nations, arsenals, work 
places, etc. A native plan of the Tecpan, much sim- 
plified, occurs in the Sahagun manuscript. The great 
pyramid rose in several terraces and was surmounted 
by two temples each three stories in height, one dedi- 
cated to Huitzilopochtli and the other to Tlaloc. 
Each temple contained an image of the god to which 
it was dedicated and a sacrificial altar. The walls were 
encrusted with blood of human victims whose hearts, 
still beating, had been torn out for divine food and whose 
bodies had been rolled down the steep flight of temple 
stairs. The foundations for the great pyramids were 
laid in 1447 by Moctezuma I, the pyramids were com- 
pleted in 1485 while Tizoc was war chief and the final 
dedication ceremonies were held in 1487. 

Several very interesting large sculptures and many 
minor objects have been unearthed on the site of the 
Tecpan. In 1790 and 1791 were found three famous 
monoliths, the Calendar Stone, the Stone of Tizoc 
(Sacrificial Stone), and the Statue of Coatlicue. Since 
1897 many fine pieces of pottery and several sculptures 
have been excavated near the Cathedral and placed in 
the Museo Nacional. 

The Calendar Stone. The great sculptured monu- 
ment known as the Calendar Stone or Stone of the Sun, 
is the most valuable object that has come down intact 
from the time of the Aztecs. It is a single piece of 
porphyry, irregular except for the sculptured face. It 
now w^eighs over twenty tons and it is estimated that 




Plate XLI. The Calendar Stone of the Aztecs. This great 
stone represents the disk of the sun and the history of the world. It 
may be analyzed as follows, reading outward from the center. 

Central or cosmogonic portion: The day sign 4 Olin with details 
in the arms representing four epochs of the world; with the face of the 
sun god in the center and minor hieroglyphs that may represent the four 
directions just outside the Olin symbol. 

Band of day signs beginning at the top and reading towards the left. 

Bands of conventional rays of the sun and other details such as the 
emlDellishment of the sun with turquoise and eagle feathers. 

The outer circle of two greatreptilesthat may indicate the universe. 

Invisible edge of the disk bears representations of Itzpapalotl, 
the obsidian butterfly which is symbolical of the heavens. 



194 



THE AZTECS 195 

the original weight was over twice as much. The 
sculptured disk is about twelve feet in diameter. This 
great stone was transported by men over many miles 
of marshy lake bottom before it could be placed in 
position in front of the Temple of the Sun in the temple 
.enclosure that has just been described. It is believed 
to have been set up horizontally and to have served as 
a sort of altar upon which human victims were sacri- 
ficed. The stone was doubtless thrown down from its 
original position by the soldiers of Cortez and may 
have been lost to sight. We know, however, that it 
was exposed to view about 1560 and was then buried 
by order of the archbishop of Mexico City lest its 
presence should cause the Indians to revert to their 
original pagan beliefs. It was rediscovered in 1790 
and was afterwards built into the fagade of the Cathe- 
dral where it remained until 1885, when it was removed 
to the nearby museum. 

The Calendar Stone is not only a symbol of the sun's 
face marked with the divisions of the year but it is a 
record of the cosmogonic myth of the Aztecs and the 
creations and destructions of the world. In the center 
is the face of the sun god, Tonatiuh, enclosed in the 
middle of the symbol called Olin. Tonatiuh is often 
represented by a much simpler sign of a circle with 
four or more subdivisions resembling those of a compass 
which are intended to represent the rays of the sun. 
Olin is one of the day signs and means movement, or 
perhaps earthquake. It has also been explained as a 
graphic representation of the apparent course of the 
sun during the year. The history of the world, accord- 
ing to the Aztecan myth, is divided into five suns or 
ages, four of which refer to the past and one to the 
present. The present sun is called Olin Tonatiuh be- 
cause it is destined to be destroyed by an earthquake. 







roc 



S. A ^ 



^ ' S d 



c: " :^ =^ 
5 Ei: ^ 



THE AZTECS 197 

The day signs of the four previous suns are represented 
in the rectangular projections of the central Ohn symbol 
beginning at the upper right hand corner and proceeding 
to the left. They are 4 Ocelotl (jaguar); 4 Ehecatl 
(wind); 4 Quauhtli (rain); 4 Atl (water), and they 
refer to destruction, first, by jaguars, second, by a hurri- 
.cane, third, by a volcanic rain of fire, fourth, by a 
flood. It is claimed by some that the year 13 Acatl 
(reed) recorded at the top of the monument between 
the reptile tails refers to the first year of the present sun, 
but according to others this is the year 1479 in which 
the sculpture was set up. Unfortunately, we have no 
record of this event. The fifth sun will end with the 
day 4 Olin, that is expressed in the central symbol 
already described. For this reason a fast was held 
on each recurrence of this day. Outside of the Olin 
symbol but between its arms are four hieroglyphs of 
uncertain meaning. Next to this area dealing with 
the great ages of the world comes a band of the twenty 
day signs of the Aztecan month. Outside of this band 
are several others which probably represent in a con- 
ventionalized manner the rays of the sun and the 
turquoise and eagle feathers with which the sun disk 
was believed to be decorated. Finally, outside of all, 
are two plumed monsters meeting face to face at the 
bottom of the disk. In each reptile face is seen a 
human face in profile. These reptiles are probably to 
be identified as the Xuihcoatl or Fire Serpents. 

Stone of Tizoc. The Sacrificial Stone or Stone of 
Tizoc is believed to have been carved by order of Tizoc, 
the war chief who ruled from 1482-1486, as a memorial 
offering to Mexican arms on the completion of the great 
temple to the Mexican God of War. The stone was a 
quauhxicalli, or ''eagle bowl." This name was given 



198 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



to large bowls which were used to hold the blood and 
the heart of human victims sacrificed to the gods. The 
same name was extended to the large drum-shaped 
stone, under consideration, which has a pit in the center 
and a sort of canal running from the center to one side 
which may have been intended to drain off the blood. 

Human sacrifice actually' 
took place on this stone 
but it is pretty certain 
that it was not one of the 
temalacatl or ^'gladiator 
stones'^ on which were 
staged mortal combats 
as ceremonies. Accord- 
ing to description the 
gladiator stones were 
pierced by a hole in the 
center so that one or more 
captives could be bound 
fast by a rope. 

On the top of the Stone 
of Tizoc is a representa- 




tion of the Tonatiuh, or 



Fig. 69. Details from the Stone 
of Tizoc: o, Huitzilopochtli, Aztec 
War God; 6, figures representing 
a captured town; c, name of the 
captured town (Tuxpan, place of 
the rabbits). 

sun's disk, much less com- 
plex than that which we have seen on the Calendar Stone 
but with many similar parts. On the sides of the stone are 
fifteen groups of figures, each group representing a con- 
queror and his captive. The victorious soldier appears 
each time in the guise of the war god, Huitzilopochtli, 
or his wizard brother Tezcatlipoca. The left foot of the 
figure ends in two scroll-like objects that may repre- 
sent the humming bird feathers that formed the left 
foot of Huitzilopochtli. But Tezcatlipoca also had a 
deformed foot. Moreover, on the side of the head- 
dress is a disk with a flame-shaped object coming 



THE AZTECS 199 

out of it. This may represent the smoking mirror 
of Tezcathpoca. The captive wears costumes that 
change slightly from one figure to the next. Over the 
head of the captive in each instance is the hieroglyph 
of a captured town or district. 

Nearly all the place name hieroglyphs have been 
deciphered. The list is interesting historically because 
it gives the principal conquests up to the reign of Tizoc. 
Starting at the side directly across the stone from the 
groove or drain we see that the figure of the victor has 
behind his head a hieroglyph that represents a leg. 
This is the hieroglyph of Tizoc and the victim in this 
case represents the district of Matlatzinco in the Val- 
ley of Toluca. This district was brought under sub- 
jection by Tizoc himself. Among the other conquered 
cities are such well-known ones as Chalco, Xochimilco, 
and Colhuacan in the vicinity of Lake Tezcoco and 
Ahuilizapan (Orizaba) and Tuxpan that are more 
distant. 

Coatlicue. The famous statue of the Earth God- 
dess, Coatlicue, ''the goddess with the serpent skirt" 
is one of the most striking examples of barbaric imagi- 
nation. The name Teoyamiqui is often given to this 
uncouth figure, but the identification is faulty. Like 
the other great sculptures we have just examined, it 
doubtless occupied an important place in the great 
ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan, but no ancient 
reference to it is extant. This goddess is reported to 
have been the mother of the gods. 

The statue may be described as follows: The feet 
are furnished with claws. The skirt is a writhing mass 
of braided rattlesnakes. The arms are doubled up and 
the hands are snake heads on a level with the shoulders. 
Around the neck and hanging down over the breast 




Plate XLIII. This Monstrous Sculpture represents Coatlicue, the 
Serpent-Skirted Goddess, who Avas regarded as the Mother of the Gods. 



200 



THE AZTECS 



201 



is a necklace of alternating hands and hearts with a 
death's head pendant. The head of this monstrous 
woman is the same on front and back and is formed of 
two serpent heads that meet face to face. The forked 
tongue and the four downward pointing fangs belong 
half and half to each of the two profile faces. 




Fig. 70. Detail showing the Construction of the Face of Coat- 
Hcue from Two Serpent Heads meeting End to End. 

Mexican Writing. The means of record employed 
in Mexican codices are in part pictographic and in 
part hieroglyphic. The sequence of the historical 
events in these native manuscripts is often indicated 
by a line of footprints leading from one place or scene 
of action to another. Historical records of this type 




Fig. 71. Hieroglyphs of Precious Materials: left to right, gold; 
turquoise; mosaic of precious stones; chalchihuitl, or jade; mirror of 
obsidian. 

resemble old-fashioned maps and some are actually 
called maps. The names of towns in these documents 
are represented by true hieroglyphs and often the 
character of the country is indicated by pictures of 
typical vegetation, such as maguey plants for the high- 



202 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



lands and palms for the lowlands. The day or the year 
in which took place the foundation of the town or what- 
ever event is intended to be recorded is usually placed in 
conjunction with the hieroglyph or picture. Conquest is 
indicated by a place name hieroglyph with a spear 
thrust into it or by a temple on fire, while warfare is a 
shield and bundle of lances encircled by footprints. 




tlcn from tlantli, teeth 





mix from mixtla , cloud 



cal from calli, house 

Fig. 72. Phonetic Elements derived from Pictures and used in 
Mexican Place^Name Hieroglyphs. 







('LiUepco 



Itztepec 



Atepec 



Pantepec 




^ 









1-^^ 



Itztlan Petlatlan 

Fig. 73. Aztecan Place Names. 



Tecalco 



A few examples of Nahuan hieroglyphs will now be 
given to illustrate this interesting method of writing. 
It must be remembered that there is nothing in the 
nature of a connected narrative. The hieroglyphs or 
word pictures are limited to geographical and personal 



THE AZTECS 



203 



names, including the names of gods, to months, days, 
numbers, objects of commerce and a few objects or 
ideas of ceremonial import. Some of the signs are in no 
degree realistic and have a definite meaning by common 
consent alone, such as the sjmibol for gold (Fig. 71). 







1 — n 





CipactU 
Crocodile 

Miquiztli 
Death 

Ozomatli 
Monkey 

CozcaquauhtU 
Vulture 






Fig. 74. Aztecan Day Signs. 



Ehecatl 
Wind 

Mazatl 
Deer 

Malinalli 
Herb 

Olm 
Movement 



Calli 
House 

Tochtli 
Rabbit 

Acatl 
Reed 

Tecpatl 
Stone 



Cuezpallin 
Lizard 

Atl 
Water 

Ocelotl 
Jaguar 

Quiahiutl 
Rain 



Coatl 
Snake 

Itzcuintli 
Dog 

Quauhlli 
Eagle 

Xochiil 
Flower 



Others are abbreviated and conventionalized pictures of 
objects. Thus the head of a god or of an animal fre- 
quently appears as the sign of the whole. But the most 
important and interesting word signs are rebuses in 
which separate syllables or groups of syllables are 



204 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



represented by more or less conventionalized pictures. 
The whole word picture is a combination of syllable 
pictures which indicate phonetically the word as a 



^^ 





/ 



a 

^. Fig. 75. Variant Forms of Aztecan Day Signs: a, acall, arrow; h, 
mazatl, deer foot; c, malinalli, jaw bone; d, itzcuintli, dog's ear; e, 
ozomatli, monkey's ear; /, ocelotl, jaguar's ear. 




Fig. 76. Aztecan Numbers and Objects of Commerce: a, 1; b, 
20; c, 400; d, 8,000; e, ten faces carved from precious stone; /, twenty 
bags of cochineal dye; g, one hundred bales of cocoa; /;, four hundred 
bales of cotton; i, four hundred jars of honey of tuna; j, eight thousand 
leaf bundles of copal gum; k, twenty baskets each containing sixteen 
hundred ground cacao nibs; (0 four hundred and two blankets. 

whole. Very often advantage is taken of puns on whole 
or partial words, while color and position are also em- 
ployed to indicate sounds and syllables. 



THE AZTECS 205 

In Fig. 72 are given a few of the more common 
syllable pictures. The name of the object represented 
is cut down by the elimination of tl, te, etc., that form 
the nominal endings. Thus, the picture of water, atl, 
becomes the sign for the sound a, that of stone tetl is 
cut down to the syllable te. Several of these syllable 
pictures are combined to represent a whole word. 

The hieroglyphs of the twenty days of the month 
(see Fig. 74) are frequently represented, but those of the 
eighteen months are not nearly so well known. As for 
the gods, the faces are usually pictured, especially when 
these are grotesque, but sometimes details of dress or an 
object connected with a special ceremony is sufficient to 
recall the divinity. The Mexican system of numbers 
was based on twenties. The units were figured by dots, 
the twenties by flags, the four hundreds by a device like 
a tree that represented hair, and the eight thousands by 
the ceremonial pouches in which copal incense was 
carried. 

Aztecan Religion. The religion of the Aztecs, 
like that of the Mayas, was a polytheism in which 
special divinities controlled the powers of nature 
and the activities of men. The gods were perhaps 
further advanced towards human form and attri- 
butes than were those of the earlier culture to the south, 
but definite characterization was still accomplished by 
grotesque features and certain animal connections were 
still evident. The matter is confused beyond the point 
of analysis. The mythologies often ascribe different 
origins to the same deity. One god is addressed by 
many names, descriptive or figurative, that are intended 
to bring out the various aspects of his power. Over- 
lapping functions make it impossible to assign each 
god to his special province. There are universal gods, 




Plate XLIV. Page from the Tonalamatl Section of the Codex Bor- 
bonicus. The thirteen days run along the bottom of the page and up 
the right side of the large division. The period covered is one-twentieth of 
the Tonalamatl of 260 days. At the left of each day is seen one of the 
nine Lords of the Night, so-called, in orderly succession. In the divi- 
sions above or to the left of the days are the thirteen gods of the Hours 
of the Day in connection with the Thirteen Birds. The patron goddess 
of this division of the Tonalamatl is Itzpapalotl, the obsidian butterfly. 
The other pictures relate mostly to mythological instances and the 
details of ceremonies. For instance, the broken tree represents Tamoan- 
chan, a legendary site, and the sacrifice of twenty birds is indicated by 
the flag attached to the bleeding head of a decapitated bird. 



206 



THE AZTECS 



207 



there are special gods, and there are patron gods of 
trade guilds. Moreover, there are foreign gods, some 
recent, some ancient. 

The religion of central 
Mexico had its objective, 
.ritualistic side, which ap- 
pealed directly to the under- 
standing of the masses, and 
its more subtle theological 
or philosophical side seen, 
for instance, in the poems 
written by priests and 
rulers. It was a mixture of 
spirituality and the grossest 
idolatry. The ceremonial 
calendar, with a description 
of the feasts and sacrifices 
occurring at different times 
of the year, has been 
preserved in a number of 
documents. Pageants, in- 
cense-burning, and human 
sacrifice gave a strong dra- 
matic quality to the relig- 
ious rites. 

The conception of a su- 
preme deity is seen in Ome- 
teuctli, the Lord of Duality, 
a vague god-head and 
creator who is sometimes 




Fig. 77. Analysis of Mexican 
Record. 1, the year Two Reed, 
1507; 2, eclipse of the sun; 3, 
earthquake at place pictured at 
4; 5, the town of Huixachtitlan. 
In the temple (6) was held (7) 
the new-fire ceremony at the 
beginning of a 52-year period. In 
this year were also drowned in 
the River Tuzac (8) two thousand 
warriors (10) which the vultures 
devoured (9) . 

addressed in some of the 

religious poems as the ^' Cause of All." In the back- 
ground of the popular religion was the belief in the 
Earth Mother and the Sky Father and in the divinity 
of the Sun, the Moon, the Jaguar, the Serpent, and 







'y Jj|-,^\ 



/■' 



■^' 



-i4l*» 



l^^l 



Plate XLV. (a) Pictures of Tlaloc, the God of Rain, and of Ehecatl, 
the God of Winds, in the Codex Maghabecchiano; (6) Mexican Genea- 
logical Table on Bark Paper. The names of most of the individuals 
are given by hierogls^hs attached to the head or the seat. Original in 
the American Museum. 

208 



THE AZTECS 



209 



whatever else was beautiful, powerful, and inexplicable. 
Tezcatlipoca, by reason of his magic and his omnis- 
cience, was placed at the head of the pantheon of active 
gods. Huitzilopochth was, however, the favorite god of 
the Aztecs through his relation to war. Tlaloc, the 
god of rain, was naturally of great importance to 
agriculturists living in a rather arid region. Tonatiuh, 
the Sun God, was a more or less abstract deity who 
acted in part through other gods. But the list is too 
long to be repeated here. 

The special gods of five 
principal Mexican cities were 
as follows: — 



Tenochtitlan 


ffuitzilopochtli 


Tezcoco 


Tezcatlipoca 


Tlaxcala 


Camaxtli 


Cholula 


Quetzalcoatl 


Cuauhnahuac 


Xochiquetzalli 




Of gods with a foreign 
origin perhaps the most im- 
portant were Quetzalcoatl 
and Xipe. The former was 
introduced long before the 
Aztecs raised their banner of 
war and may have been an 
adaptation of the Long-nosed 
God of the Mayas. The wor- 
ship of Xipe is said to have 
originated in a town in south- 
ern Mexico. It had certainly taken a strong hold on 
the Aztecs of Mexico City and was likewise known as 
far south as Salvador. 

Conceptions of the Universe. Cosmogonic myths, 
the world over, are unscientific attempts to explain the 



Fig. 78. Chalchuihtlicue, 
Aztecan Goddess of Water. 



210 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

creation of the universe, to outline the powers of the 
gods and to trace the development of nature. The cos- 
mogonic myths of Mexico and Central America are 
characterized by multiple creations. The Aztecan 
belief in five suns each standing for a world epoch is 
paralleled in fragments of Mayan mythology. Creation 
is not emphasized so much as destruction. The 
sequence of the suns is figured on the Calendar Stone, 
and in one of the codices, besides being explained in 
some of the early writings of Spanish priests and edu- 
cated natives. The first sun was devoured by a jaguar 
and in the resulting darkness the inhabitants of the 
earth were devoured by jaguars. The second sun 
was destroyed by a hurricane, the third by a rain of fire, 
and the fourth by a flood. One human pair escaped 
each cataclysm and lived to repopulate the world. 
The fifth or present sun will be destroyed by an earth- 
quake. 

Notions of the shape and character of the universe 
are pretty well defined in Aztecan lore. The wide- 
spread belief that the universe consists of three super- 
imposed worlds, the upper or sky world, the middle 
world of living men and the under world of the dead, is 
found in a developed form. The upper world is divided 
into thirteen levels. The uppermost four levels are 
called Teteocan, the abode of the gods, and are con- 
sidered to be invisible. The creator of all, Ometeuctli, 
Lord of Duality, dwells with his spouse in the highest 
heaven and under him in order are the Place of the Red 
God of Fire, the Place of the Yellow Sun God and 
the Place of the White Evening Star God. The inferior 
heavens, called Ilhuicatl, are given over to the visible 
celestial activities. There is one heaven for the storms, 
another for the blue sky of the day, the dark sky of the 
night, the comets, the evening star, the sun, the stars, etc. 



THE AZTECS 211 

The under world is Mictlan, the Place of the Dead. 
Nine divisions are commonly given and in the lower- 
most of these lives Mictlanteuctli, the Lord of Death, 
and his mate. The idea of future blessing or punish- 
ment is not entirely absent from the minds of the 
Aztecs. Warriors killed in battle go to the House of the 
Sun, in one of the upper worlds, as do women who die 
in childbirth. Tlalocan, the lowermost heaven, is a 
sort of terrestrial paradise for others. Mictlan is, 
however, the common abode of the dead, and the 
wretched soul can reach it only after a journey set with 
horrors. 

The cult of the quarters is intimately associated with 
the concept of the universe. With the four cardinal 
points a number of others are sometimes taken includ- 
ing the zenith, the nadir, and the middle. The sacred 
numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7 may thus conceivably be derived 
from the points of space, but it would be very unsafe 
to assume that they are necessarily so derived. The 
general concept of a universe divided into quarters, 
fifths, or sixths is a powerful conventionalizing factor 
in mythology, religion, and art. Prayers, songs, and 
important acts are repeated in identical or in system- 
atically varied form for each point of space. In 
Mayan and Aztecan codices the symbolism of the 
four directions is often manifest. 

Ceremonies. Ceremonialism was intensely devel- 
oped in Mexico and the dramatic quality of many 
Aztecan rites of human sacrifice has probably never 
been equaled. We are apt to think only of the grue- 
some features of human sacrifice and to overlook the 
spiritual ones. The victim was often regarded as a 
personification of a god and as such he was feted, 
clothed in fine garments, and given every honor. 



212 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

Efforts were made to cause the victim to go willingly to 
his death uplifted by a truly religious ecstasy. It was 
considered unlucky that he should grieve or falter. 

The religious calendar was given over to fixed and 
movable feasts. The fixed feasts were eighteen in 
number and each came on the last day of a twenty-day 
period and gave its name to that period. These eight- 
een periods correspond roughly with the Mayan uinals 
or months, but since dates were rarely given in relation 
to them, they do not have the same calendrical im- 
portance. The five days that rounded out the 365-day 
year were considered unlucky. 

Each of the eighteen feasts of the year was under the 
patronage of a special divinity and each had a set of 
ceremonies all its own. In some cases the ceremonies 
were really culminations of long periods of preparation. 
Thus, on the last day of the month Toxcatl there was 
sacrificed a young man, chosen from captured chief- 
tains for his beauty and accomplishments, who for an 
entire year had been fitting himself for his one turn 
on the stage of blood and death. This intended vic- 
tim, gayly attired and accompanied by a retinue of 
pages, was granted the freedom of the city. When the 
month of Toxcatl entered he was given brides, whose 
names were those of goddesses, and in his honor were 
held a succession of brilliant festivals. On the last day 
there was a parade of canoes across Lake Tezcoco and 
when a certain piece of desert land was reached, the 
brides and courtiers bade farewell to the victim. His 
pages accompanied him by a little-used trail to the base 
of an apparently ruined temple. Here he was stripped 
of his splendid garments and of the jewels that were 
symbols of divinity. With only a necklace of flutes 
he mounted the steps of the pyramid. At each step he 
broke one of the flutes and he arrived at the summit, 



THE AZTECS 213 

where the priests waited, knife in hand, a naked man 
whose heart was to be offered to the very god he had 
impersonated. This ceremony is given only as an ex- 
ample, but it illustrates two characteristics that are 
seen in several other sacrifices, namely, the paying of 
homage and honor to the intended sacrificial victim, 
and, secondly, the necessity of keeping the victim in 
a happy frame of mind. 

The eleventh feast of the year was called Ochpaniztli, 
''the feast of the broom" and was celebrated in honor 
of the goddess known as Toci, or Teteoinnan. The 
first of these names means "our female ancestor" and 
the second one means ''the mother of the gods." She 
was a goddess of the earth and her symbol was the grass 
broom with which the earth was swept. She also 
exerted an influence over the arts of the hearth, such as 
weaving. Her pictures in the codices show her with a 
broom in one hand and a shield in the other while about 
her head is a band of unspun cotton into which are 
stuck spindles wrapped with thread. 

During this month the roads were repaired, the houses 
and plazas swept, and the temples and idols refurbished. 
According to the text in the Codex Magliabecchiano 
there were human sacrifices in the temples which 
fronted on the roads and there were great dances and 
carousals. Those sacrificed were afterwards flayed 
as in the feast of Xipe and their skins worn by dancers. 
The picture that accompanies this revolting admission 
is itself devoid of any morbid symbols. It shows a 
kneeling woman holding out the broom and shield. 
She wears a white dress and a necklace of jade beads 
with golden bells for pendants. Below her are two 
standing men who bear in their hands offerings of ripe 
fruit. 



214 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

Sahagim gives details of a terrible drama that was 
enacted during this twenty-day month. For the first 
eight days there was dancing without song and without 
the drum. After this prologue a woman was chosen to 
impersonate the patron goddess and to wear her charac- 
teristic dress and ornaments. With her was a retinue of 
women skilled in medicine and midwifery. For four 
days these persons divided in opposing ranks and 
pelted each other with leaves and flowers. While this 
harmless ceremony and others like it were being acted 
out, the greatest care was taken that the woman who 
played the role of the goddess and who was marked for 
death should not suspect her fate. It was considered 
unlucky, indeed, if this victim wept or was sad. When 
her time to die had come she was clothed in rich gar- 
ments and given to understand that she should be that 
night the bride of a rich lord. And under such a be- 
guiling belief she was led silently to the temple of 
sacrifice. There without warning an attendant lifted 
her upon himself, back to back, and her head was 
instantly struck off. Without delay the skin was 
stripped from her warm body and a youth, wearing it 
as a garment, was conducted in the midst of captives 
to the temple of the War God, Huitzilopochtli. Here 
in the presence of this mighty god the youth himself 
tore out the hearts of four victims and then abandoned 
the rest to the knife of the head priest. Thus closed 
the terrible drama which began with an innocent battle 
of flowers and ended in an orgy of blood. 

The twelfth month passed under two names. It was 
called Pachtli after a plant with which the temples were 
decorated and Teotleco which signifies ''the arrival of 
the gods." The principal feast was held, as usual, on 
the twentieth day when the great company of gods was 
supposed to return from a far land. One god, very 



THE AZTECS 215 

youthful and robust, arrived on the eighteenth day, 
being able to outwalk the others, while a few very old 
and infirm divinities were late in getting to the feast. 
The one who arrived first was called Telpochtli or 
Titlacauan but in reality he was the great Tezcatlipoca 
in disguise. 

In anticipation of this return, the temples, shrines, 
and household idols were decorated with branches. 
The youths who did this work were repaid in corn, the 
amount varying from a full basket to a few ears. A 
novel manner of attesting the earliest presence of divin- 
ity is related. Some cornmeal was spread in a circular 
mass upon the ground. During the night the high 
priests kept vigil and visited from time to time this 
circle of cornmeal. When he saw a footprint in the 
center he cried out, ''Our master has come." Then 
there was a burst of music and everyone ran to the great 
feast in the temple. Much native wine was drunk, for 
this was considered equivalent to washing the tired feet 
of the travel-worn gods. As a final act of the celebra- 
tion there was a dance in costume around a great fire 
and several unfortunates were tossed alive into the 
flames. 

Space will not permit a further examination of the 
eighteen fixed feasts. The movable feasts were mostly 
in definite relation to the tonalaviatl and were thus sub- 
ject to repetition every 260 days. The permutation of 
twenty day names and thirteen numbers is pictured in 
Mexican codices in two or more stereotyped forms, but 
these are very complete. In the commonest form the 
entire cycle is divided into twenty groups of thirteen 
days each and each group is presided over by a special 
divinity. There are other repeating series of gods, 
sacred birds, etc., that preside over the individual days 
in these groups. The tonalamatl was much used in 



216 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

Mexico in connection with foretelling events. The days 
were lucky, indifferent, or unlucky, and the future life of 
a child was believed to be locked up in the horoscope of 
his birthday. 

Other feasts were held in relation to longer time 
periods. There were important festivals held in con- 
nection with the planet Venus with especially elaborate 
ones falling at intervals of eight years. Still another 
ceremony was held at the completion of a fifty-two 
3'ear period, when the set of years were figuratively 
bundled up and laid away and a new sacred fire lighted. 

Poetry and Music. The languages of Central 
America were capable of considerable literary develop- 
ment. This is seen especially in the songs that were 
used in different religious ceremonies of the Aztecs, as 
well as in the reflective poems written by educated 
natives. Several very fine pieces have been preserved, 
and while there is no rhyme, there is much rhythm. 
When recited by a person speaking fluently the native 
tongue these poems are very impressive. Of course, 
translation is always hazardous, and fundamental 
differences in language, such as exist between English 
and Aztecan, make it almost impossible. The most 
famous poet whose name has come down to us was 
Nezahualcoyotl, or Famishing Coyote, who was a ruler 
of Tezcoco and died at the advanced age of eighty 
years in 1472. A few verses from one of his poems on 
the mutability of life and the certainty of death have 
been translated as follows : — 

All the earth is a grave, and naught escapes it; nothing is so perfect 
that it does not fall and disappear. The rivers, brooks, fountains and 
waters flow on, and never return to their joyous beginnings; they hasten 
on to the vast realms of Tlaloc, and the wider they spread between their 
marges the more rapidly do they mould their own sepulchral urns. That 



THE AZTECS 217 

which was yesterday is not today; and let not that which is today trust 
to live tomorrow. 

The caverns of earth are filled with pestilential dust which once was 
the bones, the flesh, the bodies of great ones who sat upon thrones, 
deciding causes, ruling assemblies, governing armies, conquering prov- 
inces, possessing treasures, tearing down temples, flattering themselves 
with pride, majesty, fortune, praise and dominion. These glories have 
passed like the dark smoke thrown out by the fires of Popocatepetl, 
leaving no monuments but the rude skins on which they are written. 

Another example will serve to emphasize the strain of 
sadness and the vision of death that characterize so 
many Aztecan poems. 

Sad and strange it is to see and reflect on the prosperity and power of 
the old and dying king Tezozomoc; watered with ambition and avarice, 
he grew like a willow tree rising above the grass and flowers of spring, 
rejoicing for a long time, until at length withered and decayed, the 
storm wind of death tore him from his roots and dashed him in fragments 
to the ground. The same fate befell the ancient King Colzatzli, so that 
no memory was left of him, nor of his lineage. 

The Aztecs held concerts in the open air where poems 
were sung to the accompaniment of the drum and other 
simple instruments. Songs were also sung at banquets 
and in the stress of love and war. The common musi- 
cal instruments of the Aztecs vary but little from those 
in use elsewhere in Mexico and Central America. There 
were two kinds of drums. One was a horizontal hol- 
lowed-out log with an H-shaped cutting made longi- 
tudinally on its upper surface so as to form two vibrat- 
ing strips which were struck with wooden drumsticks 
having tips of rubber. The second sort of drum was 
an upright log also hollowed out and covered with a 
drumhead of deerskin. Conches were used for trum- 
pets. Resonator whistles with or without finger holes 
were made of clay in fanciful shapes. Flageolets were 
constructed of clay, bone, or wood and flutes were made 
of reed. Resounding metal disks and tortoise shells 
were beaten in time. Many sorts of gourd and earth- 



218 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



enware rattles were employed as well as notched bones 
which were rasped with a scraping stick. Copper bells 
of the sleigh bell type were exceedingly common. The 
marimba, however, that is such a favorite musical in- 




15 6 

Fig. 79. A Mexican Orchestra: 1, log drum; 2, kettle drum; 3-4, 
flageolets; 5, gourd rattle; 6, turtle shell. Manuscrit du Cacique. 

strument today in Central America is of African origin 
and fairly recent introduction. No stringed instruments 
were known to the ancient Mexicans nor does the pan- 
pipe appear to have been used in this area although 
common in Peru. 

Minor Aztecan Arts. Some of the great sculptures 
of Tenochtitlan have already been described and refer- 
ences have been made to the native books painted in 
brilliant colors on paper and deerskin. Objects of minor 



THE AZTECS 219 

art comprise pottery vessels, ornaments of gold, silver, 
copper, jade, and other precious materials, textiles, 
pieces of feather work, etc. 

The best known ceramic products are made of orange 
colored clay and carry designs in black that sometimes 
are realistic, but more often not. The tripod dishes 
with the bottoms roughed by cross scoring were used 
to grind chili. Heavy bowls with loop handles on the 
sides and a channel across the bottom were seemingly 
made to be strung on ropes. They may have held pitch 
and been used for street lights. The pottery figurines 
of the Aztecan period are nearly all moulded and lack 
the sharp detail of the earlier examples. They often 
represent deities wearing characteristic dress and carry- 
ing ceremonial objects. 

Comparatively few specimens of ancient gold work 
in Mexico escaped the cupidity of the Spanish con- 
querors, but these attest a remarkable proficiency in 
casting. The moulds were made of clay mixed with 
ground charcoal and the melting of gold was accom- 
plished by means of a blow pipe. The technique seen in 
Costa Rican gold work according to which details 
falsely appear to be added by soldered wire, was fol- 
lowed in Mexico. Modern Mexican filigree bears little 
relation to the ancient Indian work, but is probably of 
Moorish origin. The examples of Aztecan gold work in- 
clude finger rings, earrings, nose and lip ornaments, 
necklaces, and pendants. 

Among the precious and semi-precious stones known 
to the Aztecs, the most valuable in their eyes was tur- 
quoise. This was probably obtained by trade from the 
Pueblo Indians. It was mostly cut into thin plates and 
used in the manufacture of mosaic objects. Red jasper, 
green jade, jet, gold, and shell of various colors was also 
used in these mosaics. Jade was highly prized and was 



220 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



known as chalchihuitl. Ornaments of obsidian, a 
black volcanic glass, and of crystal quartz, are fairly 
common and others of opal and amethyst have been 
found. Pearls and emeralds were secured in trade from 
the south. 

The textile decorations in vogue at the coming of the 
Spaniards can be restored from the pictures in codices. 
Mantles were often demanded as tribute and the de- 
signs are given on the conventional bundles in the 
tribute lists. Garments with certain designs served as 
insignia of office for several of the priesthoods. Feather 
mosaic was highly prized and was made according to 
several methods. Capes as well as shields and other 
objects were covered with 
brilliant feathers so ar- 
ranged as to bring out de- 
signs in the natural colors. 

The Tarascans. The 

Aztecs while by far the 
most important tribe in 
the fifteenth century did 
not dominate all the sur- 
rounding peoples. For in- 
stance, most of the State 
of Michoacan was con- 
trolled by the Tarascan 

tribe who defeated every expedition sent against them. 
The list of Tarascan towns is a long one but Tzintzun- 
tzan which means the ''Place of the Humming Birds" 
was the capital and principal stronghold. The ancient 
history of the Tarascans is little known. Large and 
striking specimens of archaic art were formerly ac- 
credited to this people, but without good reason. It is 
likely that archaic characters in art were maintained in 




Fig. 80. Mexican Blanket 
with the Design representing 
Sand and Water. 



THE AZTECS 221 

Michoacan after they had passed away in Central 
Mexico, but we cannot be sure that the Tarascans were 
the ancient inhabitants. There is some evidence, how- 
ever, of culture which can be associated with them. The 
peculiar T-shaped mounds called yatacas, which rise 
in terraces and are faced with stone slabs laid without 
mortar, may have been built by this tribe. Sculptures 
of rather fine quality are occasionally found, an example 
being a reclining god of the type made famous by the 
'^Chacmool" of Chichen Itza. Many fine copper celts 
have been unearthed in this highly mineralized mountain 
region. When the Spaniards came the Tarascans were 
skilled in weaving and were particularly famous for 
feather mosaics and feather pictures made largely of the 
brilliant plumage of humming birds. The use of the 
atlatl or spear-thrower survives among the present-day 
Indians who also make gourd vessels covered with 
colored clays in pleasing geometric and floral designs. 

The Otomis are a tribe of Central Mexico even less 
cultured than the Tarascans and there is some evidence 
that they entered this region from the south only a few 
centuries before the Spaniards. Their relatives, the 
Matlatzincas of the Valley of Toluca, had more inter- 
esting arts. 

Southern Mexico. Somewhere about the middle of 
the fifteenth century Moctezuma I planted an Aztecan 
colony at Uaxyacac on the edge of the Zapotecan terri- 
tory to protect the trade route to Tabasco. This name 
gave rise to the modern Oaxaca. From this point expedi- 
tions were sent out which harrassed the Zapotecs to the 
south and the Mixtecs to the west. In the Tribute Roll 
of Moctezuma II more than twenty Zapotecan towns 
are listed as paying tribute that consisted of gold disks 
and gold dust, jadeite beads, quetzal feathers, cochineal 



222 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



dye, fine textiles, etc. Very little is preserved concern- 
ing the traditional history of southern Mexico, but it is 
presumed that the Zapotecan culture before the Aztecan 
ascendency was a development of that implanted many 
centuries before when Monte Alban flourished and 





Fig. 81. The Year Symbol of Southern Mexico. It is combined 
with the four year bearers, House, Rabbit, Reed, and Stone. In the 
second detail the day 6 Serpent in the year 12 Rabbit is recorded. 




Fig. 82. Year Bearers in the Codex Porfirio Diaz ascribed to the 
Cuicatecan tribe: Wind, Deer, Herb, and Movement. 



which we have already examined. As for the Mix- 
tecs we only know that they produced pottery of 
great beauty somewhat similar to that of Cholula. 
' Some of the finest pre-Cortesian codices that have 
come down to us are probably of Zapotecan and Mix- 
tecan origin although reflecting to some extent the 
religion of the Aztecs. Several of these have been inter- 
preted by Doctor Seler in terms of Aztecan religion and 



THE AZTECS 



223 



art. Among the documents from southern Mexico that 
belong to the late period are : — 

Codex Borgia 

Codex Vatic anus 3773 

Codex Bologna 

Several lienzos or documents written on cloth are also 
from this region. The Lienzo of Amoltepec which is a 



Codex Fejervary-Mayer 
Codex Vindobonensis 
Codex Nuttall 



ss^^^ 




Fig. 83. A Page from the Codex Nuttall, recording the Con- 
quest of a Town situated on an Island of the Sea. The conquerors 
come in boats and the conquest is indicated by a spear thrust into the 
place name hieroglyph. The crocodile, flying fish, and the sea serpent 
are represented in the water. 



fine example of this class is conserved in the American 
Museum of Natural History. The documents from 
southern Mexico are distinguished by details of geomet- 
ric ornament that resemble the panels of geometric 
design on the temples of Mitla. They record historical 



224 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

events, give astronomical information and present much 
pictographic evidence on various ceremonies and 
religious usages. In giving a date a somewhat different 
method is used than we have seen in the historical 
records from the Valley of Mexico. There is a definite 
year sign (Fig. 81) and with it is combined the 
year bearer, or initial day of the year, and often the 
particular day of the event. Unfortunately, this is not 
entirely satisfactory because no month signs are 
recorded and a day with a certain name and number 
frequently occurs twice in one year. The year bearers 
are the same as among the Aztecs for most of the docu- 
ments, namely, Knife, House, Rabbit, and Reed, but in 
a manuscript ascribed to a tribe in southern Mexico 
called the Cuicatecs, the year bearers are Wind, Deer, 
Herb, and Movement (Fig. 82). Conquest of a town is 
shown by a spear thrust into the place name. Individu- 
als are often named after the day on which they were 
born. Thus 8 Deer is a warrior hero in the Codex 
Nuttall and 3 Knife is a woman who also plays a promi- 
nent part. In some of the manuscripts from southern 
Mexico we see details that are very close to those in the 
codices of the Mayas. 

Aztecan Influence in Central America. The 

influence from the late Mexican cultures can be traced 
far to the south. In Salvador the cults of Tlaloc, Xipe 
Totec, and other Aztecan gods were fully developed. 
The occurrence of the "Chacmool" in Salvador has al- 
ready been pointed out and it may be added that the 
Mexican ball game, tlachtli, seems also to have been 
known here. 

Decorative motives that show affiliations to those of 
the Aztecs and their immediate predecessors are found 
as far south as Costa Rica but the strain is thin and not 



THE AZTECS 



225 





Fig. 84. The God Macuilxo- 
chitl, Five Flower, as shown in a 
Mexican Codex and in Pottery 
from Southern Mexico. 



to be compared with the 
evidences of culture con- 
nection over wide terri- 
tories that are found on 
earlier horizons. There 
was clearly a brisk trade 
in gold in Aztecan times 
between the Isthmus of 
Panama and Mexico. 

After the breakdown 
of the civilization of the 
humid lands of Central 
America, following the 
Mayan cataclysm, the 
abandoned regions ap- 
pear to have been re- 
populated by a stream 
of tribes from South 
America, who swept up 
the coast of the Car- 
ibbean Sea and across 
the peninsula of Yuca- 
tan, as far as Tehuan- 
tepec. There was also a 
strong northern move- 
ment of tribes along the 
Pacific Coast seen most 
clearly in the distribution 
of languages belonging 
to the Chiapanecan or 
Chorotegan stock. The 
early historic records 
show the Mazateca in 
transit from their old 
home in Costa Rica to 



22() MEXICO AND.) CENTRAij AMERICA 

tlieif new one in northern Oaxaca. Cortez in 1526 
found these Indians in Yucatan. 

A Cross-Section of New World History. 

This survey of ancient history in Mexico and Central 
America discloses a condition which doubtless holds 
true of the archaeological record in other parts of the 
world. The earliest sedentary culture was by far the 
most homogeneous and widespread. This means it 
modified slowly and lasted for ages. At the same time, 
owing to the connection of the archaic complex with 
agriculture, the initial spread may have been rapid. 
The plants domesticated by the American Indians were 
developed far beyond the wild types, much farther in- 
deed, than the domestic plants of the Old World. This 
development must have extended over many centuries. 
The first horizon of agriculture was based on plants of 
an arid highland environment. The second horizon of 
agriculture was based on these same plants after they 
had been slowly modified to fit a humid lowland en- 
vironment, as well as on certain new plants of humid 
lowland origin. 

The Mayan ci\'ilization was specialized to the wet 
lowlands of the tropic zone and while the influence 
exerted by this dominant culture of the New World 
was felt over a great area, the exact characters were not 
reproduced elsewhere. Trade relations can be traced 
from Yucatan to Colombia on the one hand and on the . 
other to New Mexico. The cycle of the Mayan civiliza- 
tion was comparatively short and the cycles of the result- 
ant civilizations were even shorter. All New World 
history must be referred ultimately to the horizons of 
culture described above, and in its early time-relations 
to the standard chronolog}^ of the Mayas which takes 
us surely and safely back to the time of Christ. 



THE AZTECS 227 

In the cross-section of New World history presented 
herewith the horizontal measures represent space and 
the vertical measures represent time. The line A-B-C-D 
begins at Victoria Island and ends at Cape Horn, 
cutting across the culture areas named on the diagram. 
Over a large part of this cross-section the '^ horizon of 
recorded history" is in fact the time of the first 
European exploration, but in Colombia and Peru, there 
are well-defined traditions giving lists of kings, while in 
Mexico and Central America there are exact chronol- 
ogies going back about 2000 years at the maximum. 
Below this and within it there are archaeological records 
of culture sequence which in some regions, such as the 
Pueblo Area, have been nicely classified. On the basis of 
trade relations and diffused ideas in material and 
esthetic arts the marginal chronology can be tied in 
with that of the central standard section of history. 

Of course, all dates earlier than the first recorded 
ones are theoretical. The beginning of agriculture in 
America is put at 4000 B.C. — it may be earlier, but can 
hardly be much later when we consider the great depth 
of the deposits of the Archaic Period. The first expan- 
sion of agriculture was over arid lands with irrigation. 
The second expansion came a long time later. The 
Pueblo Area (New Mexico, Arizona, etc.) received 
agriculture on the first expansion while the Mound 
Area doubtless received it on the second expansion. 

The dynamic forces in the history of man in the New 
World have a tremendous bearing upon the present 
and future state of the world. The debt which we 
owe to the ancient civilizations of Mexico and Central 
America becomes apparent when we list the more 
important agricultural plants, fibers, gums, dyes, etc., 
which were taken over by Europeans from the American 
Indians. 



228 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



Food Plants Cultivated bv American Indians 



Maize 

Potatoes 

Sweet potatoes 

Tomatoes 

Pumpkins 

Squashes 

Lima beans 

Kidney beans 

Peppers 

Cacao 



Pineapples 
Nispero 

Barbados cherry- 
Strawberries 
Persimmons 
Papaws 
Guava 
Arracacha 
Peanuts 
Oca 



Cashew nut 
Jocote 
Star apples 
Paraguay tea 
Alligator .pear 
Chirimoya 
Sour sop 
Sweet sop 
Custard apple 
Cassava 



Important Economic Contributions of American 
Indians 



Medicines 


Fibers 


Tobacco 


Cotton 


Cinchona (Quinine) 


Henequen 


Cascara Sagrada 


Pita 


Cocaine 




Domesticated Aximals 


Gums 


Alpaca 


Rubber 


Llama 


Copal 


Guinea pig 


Peruvian Balsam 


Dog 


Chicle 


Muscovy duck 




Turkey 




Dyes 




Anil (Indigo 


.) 


Cochineal 




Logwood 




Fustic 





I D. 1 900 
1500 

1000 



200i 



300 



701 



ARCTIC 




Pcrmaiy Invasion from Asia via Alaska on uppeK Paleolithic oi' lower 
Neolithic, without agKiculture, pottery or loom weaving. 

15000 — 10000 BC. 



Diagram of American Chronology 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A brief list of books on Mexico and Central America is appended. 
These books may be consulted in the Museum Library as well as others 
referred to in the more complete bibliographies that will be found in the 
works cited. 

Bancroft, H. H. The Native Races of the Pacific States. 5 vols. New 
York and London, 1875-1876. 

Bandelier, Adolph F. 0« the Distribution and Temire of Lands and 
the Customs with Respect to Inheritance, among the Ancient Mexicans 
(Eleventh Annual Report, Peabody Museum of American Archaeol- 
ogy and Ethnology, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 384-448, Cambridge, 1878.) 

Social Organization and Mode of Government 
of the Ancient Mexicans (Twelfth Annual Report, Peabody Museum 
of American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 2, no. 3, Cambridge, 
1879.) 

BowDiTCH, C. P. The Numeration, Calendar Systems and Astronomical 
Knoioledge of the Mayas. Cambridge, 1910. 

Bransford, J. F. Archseological Researches in Nicaragua (Smith- 
sonian Contributions to Knowledge, XXV, Art. 2, pp. 1-96, 1881.) 

Brinton, D. G. The Maya Chronicles. Philadelphia, 1882. (No. 1 of 
Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature.) 

The Annals of the Cakchiquels. The original text with 
a translation, notes and introduction. Philadelphia, 1885. (No. 6 
of Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature.) 

Essays of an Americanist. Philadelphia, 1890. 

Bulletin 28. Mexican and Central Arjiericati Antiquities, Calendar 
Systems and History. Twenty-four papers by Eduard Seler, E. Fors- 
temann, Paul Schellhas, Carl Sapper and E. P. Dieseldorff. Trans- 
lated from the German under the supervision of Charles P. Bowditch 
(Bulletin 28, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1904.) 

Charnay, D. The Ancient Cities of the New World. Trans, by J. 
Gonino and H. S. Conant. London, 1887. 

DiAs Del Castillo, Bernal. The True History of the Conquest of 
Mexico, 1568. 3 vols. (Translated by A. P. Maudslay. Hakluyt 
Society, London, 1908.) 

Forstemann, E. Commeyitary of the Maya Manuscript in the Royal 
Public Library of Dresden (Papers, Peabody Museum, IV, No. 2, 
pp. 48-266, 1906.) 



230 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

Gann, T. Mounds in Northern Honduras (Nineteenth Annual Report, 
Bureau of American Ethnology, part 2, pp. 661-692, Washington, 
1897-1898.) 

Hartmann, C. V. Archaeological Researches in Costa Rica (The Roj^al 
Ethnographical Museum in Stockholm, Stockholm, 1901.) 

Archaeological Researches on the Pacific Coast of Costa 
Rica (Memoirs, Carnegie Institute, vol. 3, pp. 1-95, 1907.) 

Holmes, W. H. Aticient Art of the Province of Chiriqni (Sixth Annual 
Rejjort, Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 3-187, Washington, 
1888.) 

Archspological Studies among the Ancient Cities in 
Mexico (Publications, Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, 1895- 
1897.) 

Joyce, T. A. Mexican Archseology. An Introduction to the Archae- 
ology of the Mexican and Maya Civilizations of pre-Spanish America. 
New York and London, 1914. 

Central American and West Indies Archaeology. 
Being an Introduction to the Archaeology of the States of Nicaragua, 
Costa Rica, Panama and the West Indies. New York, 1916. 

KiNGSBOROFGH, LoRD. Antiquities of Mexico. 9 vols., folio. London, 
1831-1848. 

Lehmann, W. Methods and Results in Mexican Research. Trans, bj- 
Seymour de Ricci. Paris, 1909. 

Ergcbnisse einer Forschungsreise in Mittelamerika und 
Mexico 1907-1909 (Zeitschrift flir Ethnologie, Band 42, pp. 687-749, 
1910.) 

Zentral Amerika. Die Sprachen Zentral-Ainerikas in 
ihren Beziehungen zueinander sowie zu Sild-Amerika und Mexiko. 
In zwei Banden. Band 1. Berlin, 1920. 

LuMHOLTZ, C. Unknown Mexico. 2 vols. New York, 1902. 

Symbolism, of the Huichol Indians (Memoirs, American 
Museum of Natural History, vol. 3, part 1, 1900.) 

Decorative Art of the Huichol Indians (Memoirs, 
American Museum of Natural History, vol. 3, part 4, 1904.) 

MacCurdy, G. G. a Study of Chiriquian Antiquities (Memoirs, Con- 
necticut Academy of Sciences, vol. 3, 1911.) 

Maudslay, a. p. Biologia Centrali- Americana, or Contributions to the 
Knowledge of the Flora and Fauna of Mexico and Central America. 
Archseology, 4 vols, of text and plates. London, 1889-1902. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 231 

Memoirs of the Peabodt Museum, vols. 1-5. Reports on excava- 
tions and exploration by Gordon, Maler, Thompson, and Tozzer. 

MoRLEY, S. G. An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs 
(Bulletin 57, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1915.) 

The Inscriptions at Copan. (Publication 219, 
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, 1920.) 

Penafiel, a. Monumentos del arte Mexicano antiguo. 3 vols. Berlin, 
1890. 

Nomenclatura geografica de Mexico. Mexico, 1897. 

Sahagun, Bernardino de. Histoire generals des Choses de la Nouvelle- 
Espagne (Edited and translated by D. Jourdanet and Remi Simeon), 
1880. 

Historia de las ccsas de Nueva Espana (Port- 
folio of illustrations from two Sahagun manuscripts copied under 
direction of F. del Paso y Troncoso and issued by the Mexican Gov- 
ernment. Florence, 1922.) 

ScHELLAs, P. Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts. 2nd 
edition revised. (Translated b}^ Miss Selma Wesselhoeft and Miss 
A. M. Parker, Papers, Peabody Museum, vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 7-47, 1904.) 

Seler, E. Die alten Ansiedelungen von Chacula im Districkte Nenton des 
Departments Hueliuelenango der Republic Guatemala. Berlin, 1901. 

Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur amerikanischen Sprach- und 
Alterthumskunde. 5 vols. Berlin, 1902-1908. 

Codex Vaticanus No. 3773 {Codex Vaticanus B). Aii 
Old Mexican Pictorial Manuscript in the Vatican Library (Trans- 
lated by A. H. Keane). Berlin and London, 1902-1903. 

Spinden, H. J. A Study of Maya Art (Memoirs, Peabody Museum, 
vol. 6, 1913.) 

Squier, E. G. The States of Central America: their Geography Topo- 
graphy, Climate, Population, etc. New York, 1858. 

Stephens, J. L. Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan. 2 vols. New 
York, 1841. 

Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. 2 vols. New York, 1843. 

Thomas, C. A Study of the Manuscript Troano (U. S. Geographical and 
Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, Contributions to 
American Ethnology, V, pp. 1-224, 1882.) 

Thomas, C. and Swanton, John R. Indian Languages of Mexico and 
Central America (Bulletin 44, Bureau of American Ethnology, Wash- 
ington, 1911.) 



232 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 

TozzER, A. M. .-1 CoDiparatioe Studi/ nf the Mayas and Lacandones. New 
York, 1907 

A Mai/a Grainntar, with Bibliography and Appraisement of 
the Works Noted ("Papers, Peabody ]\Iiiseum of American Archaeology 
and Ethnology, Harvard University, vol. 9, Cambridge, 1921). 



INDEX 



Acropolis, artificial, 68, 70. 

Adobe, 57; houses, Mexican, 15. 

Agriculture, connection with archaic 
art, 226; distribution of, 59, 60; 
distribution in the New World, 
62; influence on Mayan culture, 
67; invention of, 47-49; spread 
and development of, 59, 62. 

Ahpuch, Lord of Death, 94, 96. 

Alligator ware, 64. 

-Alphabet, of Landa, 113. 

Altars, Mayan, 78; Quirigua, 127. 

Amulets, archaic figurines as, 54; 
gold, 179. 

Animals, domestication of, 54, 228. 

Annals of Quauhtitlan, 154, 183, 185. 

Arch, in Mayan architecture, 71, 74. 

Archaic, art, 51-53, 54, 220-221; art, 
on borders of Mayan area, 69; 
art, local developments of, 60- 
64; culture, 169; culture, distri- 
bution of, 59, 61 ; culture, figures, 
56-57; figurines, 51-53; frontier 
cities of the Northwest, 164; 
horizon, 43-65; horizon, exten- 
sions of, 59-60; pottery, 55; 
site, 46; stone sculptures, 55-57. 

Architecture, brilliant period of the 
Mayas, 134; historical sequence 
determined by, 127-128; Mayan, 
69-77; Mitla, 147-148; period 
of the League of Mayapan, 135; 
Transition Period, Mayan, 134; 
types. La Quemada, 165-166. 

Aristocracies, among the Aztecs, 189- 
191. 

Art, archaic, 43, 52-53, 69, 220-221; 
archaic, characterization of, 51; 
archaic, local developments of. 



60-64; Chorotegan, 171-176; 
decorative Isthmian region, 63, 
64; high development of Maj^an, 
67; historical development of, 
125-128; massive sculptural, 
77-78; Mayan, 132, 133, 134, 
135, 136; Mayan, serpent in, 82- 
86; Santa Lucia Cozumalhualpa, 
169; sequence in, 124-128; 
Tarascan, 43, 220-221; Toltecan, 
influenced by Mayan, 156; 
Totonacan, close correspondence 
to Mayan, 149, 150, 153; Zapo- 
tecan, influenced by Mayan, 141, 

Arts, minor, Aztecan, 218-220; 
Mayan, 78-82. 

Astronomy, Mayan knowledge of, 
67, 97, 121, 125. 

Atlatl, 53, 220. 

Atzcapotzalco, 181, 184, 188; strati- 
fication at, 44-45, 156. 

Aztecan history, 184-188. 

Aztecs, 181-226; and Mayas, com- 
pared to Greeks and Romans, 
181-183. 

Bar and dot numerals, 104, 106, 116 

142. 
Basketry, Mayan, 82. 
Bats, represented in ancient art, 20. 
Bells, Aztecan, 218; copper, 169; 

copper and gold, 179. 
Ben, Mayan day sign, 80. 
Blankets, Mexican, 37. 
Brilliant Period, Mayan civilization 

69, 133-134. 
Buildings, Maj'an, 71. 

Caban, Mayan day sign, 80. 
Cakchiquels, 137, 190. 



233 



234 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



Calendar, annual, Mayan, 110; 
Central American, 147; cere- 
monial, Aztecan, 207; lunar, 
Mayan, 110-112; lunar-solar, 
Mayan, 97; Mayan, scheme as 
presented in Codex Tro-Cortes- 
ianus, 102; religious, Aztecan, 
212-213; Venus, Mayan, 112- 
113. 

Calendar round, J\layan, 101-103. 

Calendar Stone, 193-195, 197^ 210. 

CalpoUi, Aztecan, 190, 191. 

Cannibalism, 41. 

Captives, as represented in IMayan 
art, 86. 

Caribs, characterization of culture, 41 

Caricature, in archaic figurines, 50, 
53. 

Carving, development in style at 
Copan, 124; on Mayan monu- 
ments, 127; stone, at Xochical- 
co, 159. 

Celts, copper, Tarascan, 220; stone, 
57. 

Cempoalan, 24, 153, 176. 

Cenote, 18; sacred, at Chichen Itza, 
28. 

Cephalic index, Mexico and Central 
America, 42. 

Ceremonial Bar, Mayan, 86, 91, 93, 
127. 

Ceremonies, Aztecan, 211-216; Mexi- 
can, 36. 

Chacmool, 175-176, 221, 224. 

Chalchuihtlicue, Aztecan Goddess of 
Water, 209. 

Chiapanecan languages, 34. 

Chichen Itza, 27, 131, 134, 135, 136, 
156, 158, 163, 176, 221. 

Chichimecas, 154, 183-184. 

Chicomoztoc, 154, 165, 184. 



Chiefs, Aztecan, 189, 191; Toltecan, 
155; war, Aztecan, 187-188. 

Chilam Balam, Books of, 125, 1.30-131 

Chimayo blankets, 39. 

Cholula, 24, 163-165, 184. 

Chorotegan culture, 171-176. 

Chronolog;^-, Aztecan, 185; bases of 
Mayan, 123-125; Mayan, 123, 
125, 126; Mayan, correlation 
with Christian, 69, 131-132; 
Mayan, correlation with Mexican 
dates, 154; Mayan, established 
by dated monuments and style 
of sculpture, 129-130. 

Civilization, Mayan, 67-137, 226. 

Civilizations, middle, in Mexico and 
Central America, 139-180. 

Clans, kinship, 190. 

Climate, Mexico and Central 
America, 13-14. 

Cloisoraic pottery, 162,166-167; San 
Juan Teotihuacan, 162. 

Coatlicue, 193, 199-201. 

Codex, Aubin, 187; Borbonicus, 206; 
IMagliabecchiano, 208, 213; Nut- 
tall, 223, 224; Telleriano-Remen- 
sis, 182. 

Codices, Mayan, 116-123, 224; 
Mayan gods in, 92, 94; Mexican, 
201 ; southern Mexico, 222-224. 

Colhuacan, stratification at, 44-45. 

Collectors, specimens in Mexican 
Hall, 6. 

Colonization, Central America, by 
Spaniards, 22. 

Columns, sculptured at Tula, 162. 

Comalcalco, 139. 

Commerce, Aztecan objects of, 204. 

Composition in design, Mayan, 87-89. 

Concjuest, history of Spanish, 21-31 ; 
of Mexico, 22-29; symbol for, 
202, 224. 



INDEX 



235 



Construction of ^yalls, La Quemada, 
165-166; Mayan, 71, 74, 76-77; 
Mitla, 147-148. 

Copan, 19, 68, 69, 70, 77, 124, 132, 
133, 171. 

Cora, 36. 

Correlations, dates with style of 
carving in Mayan monuments, 
128-130. 

Crocodile motive, in Chorotegan art, 
172, 176; Isthmian region, 177. 

Crops, indigenous and introduced, 
Mexico and Central America, 21 ; 
principal, Maj^an region, 67, 69. 

Cross-section, typical, Mayan temple, 
74, 75. 

Cult, of the quarters, Aztecan, 211. 

Cults, Aztecan gods, 224. 

Culture, Carib, 39, 41; Chorotegan, 
171-176; Huichol, 36; Lacan- 
done Indians, 39; Mayan, 65- 
137; Mosquito Indians, 41; 
southern Mexico, 221-224; strata, 
Atzcapotzalco,45; Sumo Indians, 
41; Tarascans, 220-221; Tol- 
tecs, 153-159, 183; Totonacan, 
149-153; Zapotecan, 141-147. 

Cycle, defined, 98. 

Dances, hunting, Huichol. 

Dated monuments, 128-130. 

Dates, early Mayan, 131, 139; 

Mayan, 103, 109, 128, 130, 131; 

Toltecan, 154. 
Daj^ count, Mayan, elements of the, 

97-100. 
Day signs, Aztecan, 197, 203, 204, 

205; hieroglyphs used on J\Iayan 

pottery, 80; Mayan, 98. 
Death God, 94, 96, 102. 
Decoration, Mayan buildings, 77; 

Mayan pottery, 79-81; potter}-, 

archaic period, 55. 



Decorative motives, Chorotegan art, 
171-172; distribution of, 224.. 

Design, composition and perspective, 
Mayan, 87-91; on Mexican 
blanket, 220; motives, Costa 
Rica, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177. 

Designs, on blankets, 37; developed 
in negative painting, 166-168; 
geometric, at Mitla, 148; Maj-an 
pottery, 79, 80, 81; polychrome 
pottery, 80; realistic, Mayan 
pottery, 79, 80; textile, Mayan, 
82; Totonacan sacrificial yokes 
and paddle stones, 153; woven, 
Huichol, 35, 36. 

Donors, collections in Mexican Hall, 
5-6. 

Dresden Codex, 110, 112, 116-122. 

Dress, shown in archaic figurines, 53; 
Mexico and Central America, 37- 
39; modern Mexican, 37. 

Drums, Aztecan, 215. 

Dyes, 228. 

Early Period, in Mayan histor}-, 132- 

133. 
Earrings, archaic figurines, 53. 
Economic contributions, of American 

Indians, 228. 
Ehecatl, God of Winds, 54, 203, 208. 
Ek Ahau, war god, Mayan, 96. 
Elevations, Mayan buildings, 76-77. 
Environment, Mayan, 139; Mexico 

and Central America, 13-21. 
Ethnology, 35-42, 53-55. 
European contact, history of, 21-31. 
Exploration, of Central America, by 

Spaniards, 21-22; Mexico, 22- 

27. 
Eyes, color and Mongoloid tilt, 42; 

types of, on archaic figurines, 52, 

53; on Totonacan figurines. 149, 

150. 



236 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



Face numerals, Mayan in.scrii^tinns, 
106. 

Fauna, ^lexico and Central America, 
19-20. 

Feast, in connection with i^lanet 
\'enus, 216; of the twelfth 
month, 214-215. 

Feasts, Aztecan, 212-216; Sumo, 41. 

Feather mosaics, Aztecan, 220; 
Tarascan, 221. 

Fibers, 228. 

Figurines, archaic, 51-53; archaic, 
Isthmian region, 59, 60; archaic, 
from Salvador, 52; clay, transi- 
tion period, 69; female, distribu- 
tion of, 54, 57, 63-64; pottery, 
Aztecan, 219; pottery, San Juan 
Teotihuacan, 161-162. 

Filigree, modern Mexican work, 219. 

Flageolets, Aztecan, 217. 

Flora, Mexico and Central America, 
20-21. 

Flores, 2S. 

Flying fa^'ade, on Mayan buildings, 
77. 

Food plants, most widely distributed 
in the New World, 48; cultivated 
by American Indians, 228. 

Frescoes, Mitla, 148-149. 

Frontier cities, of the northwest, 165- 
169. 

Funerary urns, Zapotecan, 144; also 
frontispiece. 

Games, ceremonial, Toltecan, 158. 

Genealogical table, Mexican, 208. 

Genealogies, Aztecan, 189-190. 

Geography, Mexico and Central 
America, 13-21. 

Geology, Mexico and Central Amer- 
ica, 19. 

Gladiator stones, 198. 



Glaze, on modern Mexican ])ottery, 
37. 

Glyphs, introducing, 107; period, 
Mayan, 106, 107; supplemen- 
tary series. 111. 

God houses, Huichol, 36. 

God of War, Mayan, 96. 

God's eyes, Huichol, 36. 

Gods, Aztecan, 201, 203, 205, 209 
beast, Maj'an representation of 
92; in Dresden Codex, 94 
Mayan, 80, 83, 85, 91, 92-96, 123 
Mexican, 54, 205, 207, 208, 209; 
represented in jjottery from San 
Juan Teotihuacan, 161-162. 

Gold work, ancient. Isthmian region, 
64; Aztecan, 219; in cruciform 
tombs, 149; Isthmian, 177-179; 
Mayan, 82; Zapotecan, 145. 

Gourd vessels, Tarascan, 221 . 

Government, Aztecan, 188, 191; 
theocratic, of the Mayas, 86. 

Graves, Isthmian, gold objects found 
in, 178, 179. 

Great Ball Court, Chichen Itza, 136, 
158. 

Great Mound, Copan, 133. 

Great Period, Ma.yan history, 133- 
134. 

Grooving, in archaic figurines, 52. 

Groundplans, Toltecan buildings, 
158; Yaxchilan temples, 70. 

Guatuso, 42. 

Gums, 228. 

Haab, defined, 108. 

Hair, Indians of Mexico and Central 

America, 42. 
Headdresses, shown in archaic 

figurines. 51, 53. 
Hieroglyphs, Aztecan, of precious 

.stones, 201; containing phonetic 



INDEX 



237 



element kin, 115; decorative use 
on potteiy, Mayan, 79; of the 
Four Directions, 114, 115; 
Mayan, 88, 113-116; Nahuan, 
202; on stelse at Monte Alban, 
142; on the Stone of Tizoc, 199; 
at Xochicalco, 159. 

Hikule worship, Huichol and Tara- 
humare, 36. 

History, Aztecan, 184-188; Chichi- 
mecan, 183-184; of European 
contact, Mexico and Central 
America, 21-31; Mayan, sum- 
mary of, 132-137; summary in 
relation to archaeological evi- 
dences, on the archaic horizon, 
64-65; Toltecan, 154-156; tra- 
ditional, southern Mexico, 222- 
223. 

Hochob, 72. 

Horse, introduction of, 60. 

Hotun periods, 129. 

Houses, adobe, Mexican, 15; archaic 
period, 57; Mayan, 70-71. 

Huastecas, 34, 149, 150. 

Huichol, 35, 36. 

Huipili, decorated, 38, 39. 

Huitzilopochtli, 193, 198, 209, 214. 

Human, form, carved in stone, archaic 
period, 55-57; form, in Mayan 
art, 83, 86-87, 125-127; heads, 
types of, at Yaxchilan, 88. 

Hunting implements, Lacandone, 39. 

Ihuicatl, inferior heavens, 210. 
Imix, day sign, Mayan, 80; fu'st day 

of the formal permutation, 100, 

101. 
Incised designs on pottery, 80. 
Influence, Aztecan, in Central 

America, 224-226; Mayas, on 



other civilizations, 137; Mexican, 
in northern Yucatan, 156. 

Initial Series date, Chichen Itza, 131 : 
Great Period, 134; importance 
in determination of correlations, 
134; Transition Period, 134. 

Initial Series dates, 107, 109, 112, 134. 

Inscriptions, hieroglyphic, 96; hiero- 
glyphic, on Mayan monuments, 
113, 128; Mayan, 114; Mayan, 
face numerals on, 106; Mayan, 
Great Period, 134; on Mayan 
monuments, 128-130; typical, 
Mayan, 109. 

Invention of agriculture, in the New 
World, 47-49. 

Irrigation, in the New World, 49, 59. 

Itzamna, 93, 96, 102. 

Ixchel, Goddess of the Rainbow, 96. 

Ixchebelyax, Mayan god, 96. 

Ixtubtun, Mayan god, 96. 

Jade, carving of Mayan, 82; Zapo- 
tecan, 145, 146; work in, Aztec, 
219-220. 

Jaguar design, in Chorotegan art, 173, 
175. 

Kan, day sign, Mayan, 80; maize 

sign, 123. 
Katun, defined, 130. 
Kukulcan, 93. 

Lacandone Indians, 39, 137. 

Lakes, Mexico and Central America, 

17, 18-19. 
Land laws, Aztecan, 190. 
Language, Totonacan, 149. 
Languages, Central America, 216; 

Mexico and Central America, 

31-34. 
La Quemada, 164, 165-166. 



238 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



League, Aztecan, 188; of Mayapan, 

135. 
Leiden Plate, 132. 
Lienzo of Amoltepec, 223. 
Linguistic stocks, Mexico and 

Central America, 31-34. 
Long count, Mayan, 107. 
Long-nosed God, Mayan, 91, 93, 94, 

144, 209. 
Lunar, calendar, Mayan, 97, 110- 

112; period, in Mayan calendar, 

110, 111. 

Macuil.xocliitl, God Five Flower, 225. 
Manikin Scepter, 86, 92, 93. 
Maize God, Mayan, 93, 96 123. 
Maize, distribution of use, 48; most 

imjiortant food of the New World, 

48-49; staple, in Mayan region, 

67, 69. 
Manioc, cultivation of, 49; use and 

preparation by Carib, 41. 
Marimba, origin of, 218. 
Mask ])anels, on Mayan structures, 

77, 135. 
Mayan, civilization, 65-137; lin- 
guistic stock, distribution of, 34. 
Mayas, and Aztecs, compared to 

Greeks and Romans, 181-183. 
Mazatecas, 191. 
Medicines, 228. 
Metal, ornaments made of, Mayas, 

82; Zapotecan, 145. 
Metates, elaborately sculptured, 172- 

173. 
Mexican Hall, American Maseum, 

5-6. 
Mexican influence, period of. in 

Mayan history, 135-136. 
Mictlan, 147, 211. 
Mictlanteuctli, Lord of Death, 211. 
Middle Period, in Mayan history, 133. 



Migrations, Aztecan, 185. 

Mitla. 19, 141, 147-149. 

Mixtecas, 191. 

Modeling, archaic figurines, 51-52; 

clay, San Juan Teotihuacan, 161. 
Modern Period, Mayan history, 136- 

137. 
Mogofes, Zapotecan burial mounds, 

144. 
Monkey, in Chorotegan art, 171. 
Monte Alban, 141, 142, 148, 222. 
Month, Mayan, twenty daj- signs of, 

98; signs, of MaA'an Year, 100. 
Months, Aztecan, 205; Mayan, length 

of, 100; Mayan, names of, 100. 
Monument, earliest dated, 132. 
Monuments, Mayan, dated, 128-130; 

sequence of Mayan determined 

by style of sculpture, 125-127. 
Moon, representations of the, 111. 
Mosaic, feather, Aztecan, 220; feath- 
er, Tarascan, 221; masks and 

ceremonial objects, 82. 
Mosquito Indians, 41. 
Mound, artificial, at Copan, 70; 

pyramidal developed at end of 

archaic period, 57. 
Mounds, at Atzcapotzalco, 44; foun- 
dation for temples, 70; Tarascan, 

221; Zapotecan, 144. 
Mountains, Mexico and Central 

America, 14-16. 
Music, Aztecan, 216-218. 
Musical instruments, Aztecan, 217- 

218. 
Mythology, Aztecan, 184, 195, 205, 

209-210; Mayan and Aztecan, 

205. 
Myths, cosmogonic, 209-210. 

Nahuan, linguistic stock, distribution 
of, 32; tribes, led in development 
of archaic art, 43. 



INDEX 



239 



Naranjo, 69, 127, 133. 

Negative painting, 167-168. 

Nezahualcoyotl, 216. 

Nose form, Indians of Mexico and 

Central America, 42. 
Noserings, on archaic figurines, 53. 
Notation system, Maj^an, 97, 103- 

107. 
Numbers, Aztecan, 204; Mayan, 

103-107; Mexican system of, 

205. 
Numerals, Zapotecan system of, 142. 

Obsidian, Aztecan ornaments of, 220. 

Ochpaniztli, eleventh feast of the 
year, 213. 

Old Man God, Mayan, 80. 

Olin, Aztecan day sign, 194, 195, 197. 

Olmecs, 153. 

Ometeuctli, Lord of DuaUty, 207, 210. 

Organization, political, Mayan, 181; 
social, Aztecan, 188-191. 

Ornaments, of precious and semi- 
precious stones, Aztecan, 219; 
shown on archaic figurines, 53. 

Otomi, .34, 183, 221. 

Pachtli, twelfth month, Aztecan, 214. 

Paddle-shaped stones, Totonacan, 
153. 

Painting, archaic figurines, 52, 63; 
body, shown on archaic figurines, 
53; on Mayan pottery, 63; 
negative, on pottery, 169; Zapo- 
tecan pottery, 144-145. 

Palaces, structure of Mayan, 71. 

Palenque, 69, 76, 77. 

Palmate stone, 152. 

Pantheon, Mayan, 91-96. 

Papantla, pyramid at, 151. 

Peregrinations, Aztecan, 184-185. 

Peresianus Codex, 116. 



Period, defined, in Mayan time count, 
97-98; glyphs, Mayan, 106, 107. 

Permutation system, Mayan, 98-100. 

Perspective, in Mayan design, 89, 91. 

Peyote worship, Huichol and Tara- 
humare, 36. 

Phonetic use of signs, Mayan hiero- 
glyphs, 114. 

Physical types, 40, 42. 

Pictographic hieroglyphs, Mayan, 114. 

Piedras Negras, 69, 90, 127, 133. 

Pima, 36. 

Pipiles, 33, 169. 

Place names, Aztecan, 202. 

Plants, food, cultivation of, in the 
New World, 47, 228. 

Poetry, Aztecan, 216-217. 

Polychrome pottery, Cholula, 165; 
Mayan, 80. 

Portraiture, in archaic art, 50, 53; 
in Mayan art, 87, 129. 

Post Archaic Horizon, 65. 

Potato, cultivated in Peru, 49. 

Pottery, archaic, 55, 133, 149; 
Aztecan, 219; at Atzcapotzalco, 
44; from Cholula, 163; Choro- 
tegan, 172; cloisoime, San Juan 
Teotihuacan, 162; distribution 
of, 59-60, 61, 62; Isthmian, 
64; Mayan, 78-81; Mitla, 149; 
modern Mexican, 37; north- 
western region of Mexico, 166- 
167; polychrome, Mayan, 78-80; 
San Juan Teotihuacan, 162; 
with semi-glaze, 171; Zapotecan, 
144-145. 

Pouches, Valiente Indians, 38. 

Prayers, representation of in Toltecan 
sculptures, 158. 

Pre-Archaic Horizon, 65. 

Priests, Zapotecan, 145. 



240 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



Protohistoric Period. Mayan history, 

132. 
Pueblo Viejo, 23. 
Pulque, 36. 
Pyramid, Cholula. 163-165; Mayan, 

71; Monte Alban, 141-142; 

San Juan Teotihuacan, 159; 

Toltecan, 156, 158. 

Quetzalcoatl, 93, 155, 209. 
guiches, 173. 
Quinatzin, map, 184. 
(^lirigua, 15, 69, 127. 

Rank, among the Aztecs, 189. 

Rattles, Aztecan, 217-218. 

Religion, Aztecan, 205-209; as evi- 
denced by archaic art, 54; 
Isthmian region, 179; Lacandone 
Indians, 39; Mayan, 91-96, 
181; Toltecan, 158; Zapotecan, 
145. 

River systems, Mexico and Central 
America, 17-18. 

Roman-no.sed God, Mayan, 91, 92, 93. 

Roof comb, on Mayan buildings. 77, 
128. 

Roofs, on Mayan buildings, 76. 

Rooms, Mayan buildings, 74, 76. 

Ruins, Usumacinta Valley, 18. 

Sacrifices, Aztecan, to the gods, 181; 
human, 193, 198, 207; human, 
Aztecan, 207, 211, 212; human, 
shown on sculptures, 169; hu- 
man, Toltecan, 155; human, 
Zapotecan, 145. 

Sacrificial yokes, Totonacan, 151, 152. 

Saltillo blankets, 37, 39. 

San Andres Tuxtla, 139. 

San Bias Indians, 41-42. 

San Juan Teotihuacan, 159-162. 



San Miguel blankets, 37, 39, 

Santa Lucia Cozumalhualpa, 169-171. 

Sculptural art, massive, 77-78. 

Sculptures, archaic, 55-57; common 
material for, 19; developments 
in, as a check to chronology, 125 
Isthmian region, 63, 64, 171 
Mayan, Middle Period, 133 
San Juan Teotihuacan, 161 
Santa Lucia Cozumalhualpa 
169-171; sequence in style, 127 
stjie, correlated with dates, 130 
Tenochtitlan, 218; at Tula, 162 
wall, at Cojian, 77; Zapotecan, 
146. 

Seibal, 69, 89. 

Seri, 36. 

Serpent, archaic pottery, 54; in 
Chorotegan art, 171-172; con- 
ventional, of the Maj'as, 84-86; 
heads, com):)arison of Mayan and 
Zapotecan, 141 ; heads, on Maj-an 
buildings, 77; motive, impor- 
tance in Mayan art, 82-86; in 
religion of the Maj'as, 91. 

Shield stone, Cuernavaca, 196. 

Slabs, sculptured stone, from Costa 
Rica, 174, 175; Zapotecan, 146. 

Smiling faces, Totonacan, 150, 151. 

Social organization. Aztecan, 188- 
191. 

Song.s, Aztecan, 216, 217. 

Southern Mexico, culture of, 221-224. 

Spear-thrower, Tarascan, 221. 

Speech scroll, 158, 169-170. 

Stability, Mayan buildings, 76. 

Stamps, for pottery designs, 80. 

Stature, Indians of Mexico and 
Central America, 42. 

Stelae, Mayan, 78; Zapotecan, 142. 

Stocks, language, distribution of, 31- 
34. 



INDEX 



241 



Stone, collars, Totonacan, 151-152; 
great development of building in, 
Copan and Mitia, 19; sculpture 
in, 55-57; yokes, 153; Zapotecan 
art in, 145-146. 

Stratification, archaeological, at Atz- 
capotzalco, 44-45, 156; of 
remains, Mexican sites, 44-45; 
of remains, Peru, 59. 

Structure, two-roomed, Mayan, 74- 
75. 

Sumo Indians, culture of, 41. 

Sun God, Aztecan, 195. 

Suns, sequence of, in Aztecan myth- 
ology, 210. 

Superstructures, on Mayan buildings, 
77. 

Supplementary series. 111, 112. 

Syllables, phonetic use of, Mayan, 114. 

Symbolism, religious, Mayan, 91, 92, 
93. 

Talamanca, 42. 
Tarahumare, 32, 36. 
Tarascan culture, 220-221. 
Tattooing, shown on archaic figurines, 

53. 
Tecpan, 188, 191-193. 
Temple, of the Cross, model of, 75; 

enclosure, Tenochtitlan, 191- 

193; structure of Mayan, 71, 74, 

75, 76; of the Sun, Aztecan, 195. 
Temples, Mayan, 71-76, 128; Mitla, 

147-148; Tenochtitlan, 191-193; 

Toltecan, 156, 158; Zapotecan, 

141. 
Tenochtitlan, 27, 44, 184, 185, 188, 

189, 199, 218. 
Teocentli, sacred maize, 48. 
Teoyianacatl, peyote, use of, 36. 
Teotihuacan, 156. 
Teotleco. twelfth month, Aztecan, 

214. 



Tepanecas, 185, 188. 

Tepehuane, 36. 

Teswin, 36. 

Teteocan, 210. 

Teteoinnan, 213. 

Textile, art, Cora and Huichol, 36; 
art, Mayan, 82; decoration, 
Aztec, 220; designs, on archaic 
effigies, 34. 

Tezcatlipoca, 198, 209, 215. 

Tezcoco, 156, 176, 184, 188, 189, 216. 

Tikal, 69, 76, 77, 127, 132. 

Time, count, Aztecan, 185; Maj-an, 
96-97, 99; Toltecan, 154; Za- 
potecan, 147. 

Time-relations, in New World cul- 
ture, 226-227. 

Tizoc, stone of, 188, 197-199. 

Tlachtli, Mexican ball game, 163, 224. 

Tlacopan, 188. 

Tlaloc, God of Rain, 54, 161, 193, 
208, 209. 

Tlalocan, 211. 

Tlotzin, map of. 184. 

Toltecs, 136, 153-158, 183. 

Tomb, cruciform near Mitla, 143, 149. 

Tonalamatl, Aztecan, 215. 

Tonatiuh; the Sun god, 95, 198, 209. 

Topography, Mexico and Central 
America, 14-19. 

Totonacan culture, 149-153. 

Totonacs, 139. 

Toxcatl, Aztecan month, 212. 

Traditions, Ma,yan, 125. 

Transition Period, Mayan history, 
134. 

Tribes, Indian, Mexico and Central 
America, 32, 33, 34, 36. 

Tribute, lists, Aztecan, 220; roll, 
180, 221-222. 

Tripod vessels, archaic period, 55. 

Tro-Cortesianus Codex, 116. 



242 



MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



Tropical year, lOS. 

Tula. 154, 155, 156, 162-163, 166. 

Tun, defined, 105. 

Tuxtla Statuette, 132, 136, 139. 

Turquoi.se, Aztec work in, 219. 

Two-Headed Dragon, 86-87, 91, 92, 

94, 126, 127. 
Tzintzuntzan, Tarascan capital, 220. 
Tzolkin, defined, 98, 101 ; in Dresden 

Codex, 121-122; origin of, 98; 

])ermutation table, 99. 

Uaxactun, early date at, 132. 
Uinal, lunar month, 97-98. 
Ukahlay katunob, record of the days, 

131. 
Universe, Aztecan conceptions of the, 

209-211. 
Urns, Zapotecan funerary, 144. 
Uto-Aztecan languages, distribution 

of, 33. 
Uxmal, House of the Governor at, 73. 

Vault, Mayan buildings, 71. 

Venus, Aztecan festivals in connection 
with, 216; calendar, Mayan, 
112-113. 

Vigesimal system of counting, ^Nlayan, 
105. 

Volcanoes, [Mexico and Central Amer- 
ica, 16, 19. 

Wall construction. La Quemada, 165- 
166; Mayan, 71, 74, 76-77; 
MitJa. 147-149. 



War God, Aztecan, 194, 214; Mayan, 
96. 

War, importance in Aztecan organiza- 
tion, 189. 

Weapons, shown in archaic figurines, 
53. 

Weaving, shown in archaic figurines, 
53; Tarascan, 221. 

Whistles, Aztecan, 217. 

Writing, hieroglyphic, Mayan, 67; 
Mayan and Aztecan, 113-115; 
Mexican, 201-205. 

Xcalumkin, 134. 
Xipe, 162, 209, 213. 
Xkichmook, 78. 
Xochicalco, 156, 158-159. 
Xochimilco, 45, 187. 

Yatdcas, Tarascan mounds, 221. 

Yaxchilan, 69, 77, 88, 95. 

Year, bearers, Cuicatecan, 222, 224; 
conventional, 100-101; symbol, 
southern Mexico, 222; length 
of Mayan, 97; jNIayan, the true, 
107-110. 

Yellow fever, presence in Central 
America, 134. 

Yokes, sacrificial, 151; designs on, 
153. 

Yum Kaax, Lord of the Harvest, 96. 

Zapotecs, culture of, 139, 141-147. 
Zero, invention of sign for, Maya, 

104. 
Zotzils, 191. 



31^77 



